Sketch Book Fo the Artist

An innovative, practical approach to drawing the world around you

SARAH SIMBLET

BOOK FOR T H E ARTIST

BOOK

FOR THE ARTIST

SARAH SIMBLET

DK PUBLISHING

Architecture

CONTENTS LONDON • NEW YORK MELBOURNE • MUNICH • DELHI Senior Editor Paula Regan

Foreword Introduction Drawing Books and Papers Posture and Grip

6 8 20 22

Senior Art Editor Mandy Earey Art Editor Anna Plucinska Managing Editor Julie Oughton Managing Art Editor Heather McCarry Art Director Peter Luff Publishing Director Jackie Douglas Production Joanna Bull DTP Designer Adam Walker Picture Research Sarah Smithies US Editor Christine Heilman

Objects and Instruments

Still Life Instruments of Vision Bench Marks Light and Illusions Further Illusions How to Draw Ellipses Tonality Drawing with Wire Artifacts and Fictions

First American Edition, 2 0 0 5 First Paperback Edition, 2 0 0 9 Published in the United States by DK Publishing 3 7 5 Hudson Street New York, New York 1 0 0 1 4 10 11 12

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

TD075-July 2009 Copyright © 2 0 0 5 Dorling Kindersley Limited Text and authors artworks © Sarah Simblet 2 0 0 4 Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited A Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 9 7 8 - 0 - 7 5 6 6 - 5 1 4 1 - 1 Color reproduction by GRB, Italy Printed and bound in China by Toppan

Discover more at

www.dk.com

Master Builders The Order of Sound Future Fictions Pathways of Sight Single-Point Perspective Creating an Imaginary Space Further Aspects of Perspective Theaters Venetian Life Parisian Street

Animals Documentaries Presence and Mood Movement Icon and Design Pen and Ink Drawing with Ink Capturing Character Sleeping Dogs Turtles Dry Birds

Plants and Gardens Botanical Studies Jeweled Gardens Fast Trees Graphite and Erasers Cropping and Composition Negative Space Fig Tree Summer Flowers Acanthus Spinosus

66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86

88

90 92 94 96 98 100 102 104 106

24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44

46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64

The Body Postures and Poses Choreographs Passion Measurement and Foreshortening Quick Poses Hands and Feet Charcoal Hands Phrasing Contours The Visual Detective La Specola

108 110 112 114 116 118 120 122 124 126 128

Gatherings Projections Magnetic Fields The Human Condition Disposable Pens The Travel Journal Catching the Moment Grand Canal Crossings Caravans The Big Top

Portraiture Poise Anatomies Revelations Self-Portraits Silver Point Head and Neck Essential Observations Drawing Portraits Generations Castings

Cloth and Drapery Character Costumes Femmes Fatales Colored Materials Study and Design The Structure of Costume Textures and Patterns Dressing Character Posture Carving

218

176 178 180 182 184 186 188 190 192 194

220 222 224 226 228 230 232 234

Process and Harmony Writing Time Chants and Prayers Compositions Being "Just" Collage Zen Calligraphy Nocturnes

130 132 134 136 138 140 142 144 146 148 152

Earth and the Elements Air in Motion Storms Nature Profiles Charcoal Landscapes Drawing in the Round Decaying Boat Cloudburst Notes of Force Mountains

Costume

174 Abstract Lines

154 156 158 160 162 164 166 168 170 172

196 198 200 202 204 206 208 210 212 214 216

Gods and Monsters

238

Marks of Influence Hauntings Convolutions Brushes Brush Marks Monsters Goya's Monsters Consumed

240 242 244 246 248 250 252 254

Glossary Index Acknowledgments

256 259 264

Foreword B

Y DRAWING THE WORLD AROUND

US, we learn to see it. By using our imaginations, we learn

to feel truly alive. Combine these things and the possibilities are endless. Drawing occupies a unique place in every artist and creator's life, be they a child discovering their vision and dexterity; a sculptor, fashion designer, architect, or engineer; a composer notating a musical score; a cartographer charting the land; or a quantum physicist trying to see for themselves the fluctuations of our universe. For me personally, drawing is the immediate expression of seeing, thinking, and feeling. It is a tool for investigating ideas and recording knowledge, and a reflector of experience. Drawing is a mirror through which I understand my place in the world, and through which I can see how I think. I will always draw, not only to make art, but because it is how I engage with and anchor myself in life. It makes me feel excited to be alive. Some of my drawings cover entire walls. They enfold their viewer and are made on joined sheets of paper that I reach by climbing ladders. Others can be held in the h a n d or, by invitation, are made outside as discreet installations, perhaps hidden on a door hinge or a street bench rail, where I expect them to be discovered by some people, remain unseen by most, and be slowly washed or worn away. Some are more traditionally framed and hung in galleries for solo or group exhibitions. I also make drawing books, especially as travel journals. They occupy a shelf in my studio, and I refer back to them for years after they are made. It is my love of these, and their importance to so many artists, that inspired the title and structure MEMORY T H E A T E R S This pen-and-ink drawing was made from imagination during research for my PhD. I was training in anatomy and studying how, through history, we have looked at, understood (and often misunderstood) our own bodies. I was also reading among The Confessions of St. Augustine his notes on memory, in which he describes himself flying and diving in his imagination through pictorial caverns of knowledge. These inspirations led me to invent museums, where spaces are shaped by nothing more than the objects and activities contained within them.

of Sketch Book for the Artist. Chosen in any color, texture, shape, and size, a drawing book is the perfect portable private vehicle for your imminent exploration of drawing. For twelve years I have enjoyed the privilege of teaching drawing, as a visiting professor at universities, art schools, and local c o m m u n i t y classes. I work with people of diverse ages, aspirations, and experience, from schoolchildren to senior citizens, undergraduates to fellow professors, night security staff, doctors, geologists, and makers of special effects. The most rewarding challenge is always the newcomer, still standing by the door, who tells me firmly upon approach that they cannot draw. I know that with their cooperation I can soon prove them wrong, and in a few sessions they will be flying. We can all learn how to draw. The very first step is to believe it.

INTRODUCTION

8

Where We Begin There is a fundamental drive in our human nature to make

take in what is said. We are surrounded by drawings in

a mark. Children cannot be restrained from running across

our daily lives, not just chosen pictures on our walls but

the pristine white lawn of newly fallen snow, inscribing every

everywhere—maps, signs, graffiti, logos, packaging, and

fresh part of it with their eager scrapes and trails. Most adults

patterns on our clothes. We are bombarded with linear and

still feel that certain exquisite pleasure on arriving at a beach

tonal pictorial information, and we spend our lives reading it.

to find the tide out and the sand perfect, like a great canvas

The sense of relief we may feel from the information overload

for them to mark. At home and at work we doodle, scrawling

of modern commercial life when visiting a country in which

shapes and cartoons when on the telephone, in lectures, and

we can no longer read every written word, is not afforded us

in meetings. Sometimes we draw because we are bored, but

by drawing. Drawing is international, irreverent to language

more often because drawing actually helps us to focus and

barriers. We can always read each others drawings.

"CAVE OF THE HANDS" In this drawing, a great crowd is raising their hands in greeting, waving to us from many thousands of yearsago.Theseancient

silhouettes were drawn with earth pigments rubbed onto rock. They have a natural affinity to many modern graffiti signatures.

Cueva de las Marios, Rio Pinturas

13,000-9500 bce

9

WHERE WE BEGIN

FIRST PORTRAIT For sorre forgotten reason, the hair of my first portrait was most important. Eyelashes take up as much of my attention as the head itself. I now think this is a picture of proximity, reflecting my experience of looking closely at my father's face. Even though it is made by a toddler this image would be recognizable to anyone.

MAKING OUR MARK It seems reasonable to assume that we have engaged

On a particular afternoon in September 1974, at age two-and-

in pictorial mark-making for as long as we have made

a-half, I was sitting with my mother. She gave me a notepad

conscious use of our hands. In cave paintings like the

and a red crayon and asked me to draw her "a picture of

one opposite, we see our oldest surviving images, created

Daddy." Until this day, I, like all toddlers, had happily

by societies of hunter-gatherers, who in their day-to-day

scribbled, enjoying the physical sensation of crayon on paper,

hardship made time to picture themselves and the animals

and the appearance of my strikes of colors, but I had never

on which they depended. Cave art was not made for

yet attempted to figuratively picture my world. The image

decoration but as a fundamental part of life, an expression

above is what I gave back to my mother, and she kept it as

of existence, power, and belonging to place.

my first step beyond the delighted realms of scrawl.

10

INTRODUCTION

PEN-AND-INK BEE This tiny drawing has been enlarged to show its texture and composition. It was made with a few bold strokes of a steel pen dipped in ink to conjure the dried bee I was holding between my fingers on a pin.

PROGRESSION T h e r e is a point in all o u r lives w h e n w e first c o n t r o l o u r

insist they cannot draw, yet still turn to drawing w h e n their

mark and m a k e it a line, then drag o u r line into a loop, and

verbal language fails or is inadequate. W e do n o t hesitate to

from that first unit build and describe the shape of something

draw a map, for example, to help a stranger see their way

or someone we know. Young children love to draw. Hours are

W h e n taking first steps in relearning h o w to draw, it is

lost immersed in the glorious world of imagination, and this

important to value your natural abilities a n d ways of seeing,

activity plays a vital role in their d e v e l o p m e n t . But as

h o w e v e r small a n d u n f o r m e d y o u believe they are. As you

adolescents, most of us stop. Inhibitions creep in and ideas of

progress, b e p r o u d o f what m a k e s y o u r w o r k individual to

good a n d b a d terminate confidence. At this point many will

y o u . Don't b e p e r s u a d e d to draw in a w a y s o m e o n e else

11

PROGRESSION

A UNIQUE SIGHT This innocent yet sophisticated drawing of boats, harbor and sea is one of many that Alfred Wallis made from memory while sitting at home. He was a retired Cornish fisherman

and junk dealer who began drawing at the age of 70 "for company" after his wife died. He used leftover ship and yacht paint with crayons on cut-out pieces of cardboard boxes.

Five Ships in Port with

Lighthouse

c. 1925-42 53/8x87/8in (135 x 225 mm) ALFRED WALLIS

prefers and tells you is better. Think how much would

Occasionally, I meet students struggling unhappily with a

have been lost if anyone had interfered with Alfred Wallis'

particular method of drawing. Someone once told them they

personal sense of proportion and perspective in the

must draw in this way, and they have never questioned why.

exquisite drawing above. As you read this b o o k and

I ask them their reasons for drawing, what they most want to

perhaps attend art classes, remember that all advice is only

achieve, and which aspects of the vast wealth and diversity of

advice. After experimenting and trying each new idea,

graphic language would be most appropriate to their goals,

you must decide whether to keep or discard it. Enjoy

The journey of every artist demands hard work and discipline,

the control of your own journey.

but it does help to set out facing in the right direction.

INTRODUCTION

12

VISION All artists see the world differently. The art historian

imaginations are the tools with which we can increase the

Professor Sir Ernst Gombrich, author of The Story of Art,

essence of life, be visionary, and inspire others.

wrote as the opening line of this great work, "There really is

The observed world may be our subject, but it should

no such thing as Art. There are only artists." The clarity and

be the experienced world we draw. There should neve:

empowerment of these words, is, I hope, embedded in this

be a slavish obligation to represent things exactly as we

book. When we look back at Wallis' seascape (see p. 11), it

collectively agree we see them. We all see differently. We also

may not be accurate to our critical adult eye, but the child

see differently ourselves, depending on the occasion and

in us knows that this is an all-embracing, clear-minded

our purpose. There are countless reasons for drawing. We

understanding of the sea, boats, and breathtaking wind of a choppy harbor. If as artists we nail a subject down too hard, we can drive out its spirit, and lose the very thing that attracted us to it. Our

BIRD STUDIES The flutter of faint scratches that dance across the pages on the right is an attempt to see the movement and bony weightlessness of a bird. Below, the breast- and collarbones and shoulder blades of a different bird almost become new creatures in themselves.

IDEAS A N D I N V E N T I O N S These active machines, right, all raise water From the Archimedes' screw to Leonardo's own cupped wheel, the page bristles with the focus of ideas. His notes visually balance his drawings. They are also always written backward, not for disguise but as a personal choice, perhaps for comfort or ease as a left-hander or a habitual enjoyment of the challenge.

Archimedes'

Screws and Water

Wheels

LEONARDO DA VINCI

13

stripped-down parts, drawing in pursuit of our own

but it is important to be clear why we are making it.

thoughts and understanding. My drawings of a house-

Decide before you start whether you are drawing to

martin (opposite top) illustrate the importance of repeated

warm up, or to discover the best use of a new material,

study. More was learned drawing the bird 18 times than

to express the beauty in a moment's play of light, conduct

would have been understood drawing it only once or twice.

an experiment, make a calculation, shout against a terrible

Each fresh image reflects growing confidence and the

injustice, or illustrate a dream. Opposite, I drew to

experience of the preceding study. This also applies if

understand the apparatus of flight, while below, Leonardo

struggling at length with a larger picture; when it looks

drew to invent a machine. Our drawings are annotated

tired and still feels wrong, it may be best to start afresh.

investigations into the mechanisms of nature and of an

Don't be disheartened; time spent is not lost. It will be

idea. We have both covered our paper with focused,

invested through your experience in the new drawing.

VISION

should not try to know how every finished picture will look,

INTRODUCTION

14

ALCHEMY At school, and sometimes beyond, we are advised or even

energy and focus of the moment to be expressed through

required to plan our pictures, declare the idea, explain the

controlled accident and a degree of the unknown Both

composition, and practice each part before putting the final

drawings were made trusting the marks, and at speeds

image together. This suits many artists well and is perfectly

beyond conscious thought.

valid. However, excessive planning can get in the

As you draw any subject—something you see, feel, or

way of the imagination, the unknown, and what

imagine—it is not enough to only render its shape,

you discover in the process of making. It denies

size, and position in space. You must also think of its

the importance of accident, which can offer

intrinsic nature: its purpose, meaning, and how it feels

keys to other things. These two brush drawings, created

to the touch. Know the texture, temperature, depth, and opacity of your subject. Imagine

centuries and cultures apart, are both

these qualities so strongly that you feel them

made of ink laid onto wet paper with

in your mind and at your fingertips. Whatever

speed and agile certainty. The physicality, balance, and spirit of each subject was held strongly but loosely between the fingertips, and allowed to flow through the brush. Each image relied upon past experience to know the probable behavior of the brush, ink, water, and paper. They each allowed the

the material— wood, silk, bone, metal, fire, or ice—you must actually feel it beneath your fingers as you draw. As your hand meets the paper to make a mark, it should be responding to the sensation and meaning of the subject it draws. If you can do this, your marks will become the subject on the paper. This is the alchemy of drawing.

BRUSHED

FLOWING SKELETON T h e gliding poise of this walking anatomy comes as much from the feeling of movement as it does from the feeling of drawing. I made it almost unconsciously with a pen and a brush, trusting my intuition to find a visual equivalence for the sensation of weight within my body.

LANDSCAPE

This is a detail of a brush-and-ink drawing by a Japanese Buddhist monk. Our position asvieweris unsteady. W e float toward the quiet vista as it also moves toward us. We are caught in a shifting focus that makes everything fluid, and we can just make out the distant stains of mountains, mists, and an island brushed with trees.

Landscape in Haboku Style 15TH CENTURY

INTRODUCTION

16 PLACE A N D MOMENT The heat and teeming atmosphere o f this Parisian dressing room, left, lives on, more than 100 years after its making. Lautrec's flamboyant splashes o f petticoats and pantaloons are drawn with long sweeps of chalk and brushed oil paint. He dazzles us with flashes o f light and dabbed marks o f shadow, which evoke realities o f place and the p o w e r o f moment.

Woman at her Toilet

c.1896

41 x 26 in (104 x 66 cm) TOULOUSE LAUTREC

RIB-CAGE D R A M A Thus drama, right is set inside a rib cage, one of many luminous works in watercolor, acrylic, pastel, gold leaf and spray paint, made by a young British artist who creates alphabets o f the absurd f r o m familiar childhood characters. W a l t e r also makes books: some, like folded insects, stand table-sized with furniture legs attached t o b o t h sides of their jacket.

Focusing on the Negative 2004

22 x 30 in (56 x 76 cm) J O H N WALTER

17

FREEING THE HAND if you need to make several attempts to grasp a concept.

grip your pen worrying about the technical terms you might

Drawing is exploratory, and mistakes are a valuable process

have heard. Ignore these at first and allow yourself the

of learning. Try to keep all of your first drawings, even those

freedom to play. Start by choosing a material you like the

you dislike. Put them away and look at them later, at a point

look of and cover a piece of paper with different marks.

when you feel you are not making progress; you will be

Enjoy discovering what your hand and the material can

surprised and encouraged to see how far you have come.

do. Choose other materials and do the same. Much will be

One of the advantages of a drawing book is that you can

learned on these test sheets and in your first drawings, just

shut it. Pages do not have to lie open for other people to

through the act of making. With no help and advice at all,

inspect and comment on. It is yours. Such books are

you will naturally make progress on your own in response

personal: the territory of new exploration and experiment;

to concentration and the decision to look and draw. As you

potential ideas still forming; diary-like observations; and

follow lessons in this book, take your time and don't worry

miscellaneous items of inspiration.

FREEINGTHEHAND

If you are just beginning to learn how to draw, try not to

INTRODUCTION

18

THE THINKING EYE Techniques and materials are the grammar and vocabulary

90 different artists' ways of seeing, and many more reasons

of drawing and can be studied and shared. An artist's

for drawing the world. To these I have added my own

personal voice is something that also evolves through

drawings to explain elementary materials and techniques

lessons learned. However, it is this voice that is the subtle

and offer introductory approaches. Note that the drawing

part of their art and something that ultimately, when they

classes are allocated to subjects, but not confined to them.

are more experienced, comes from within. Imagination

In the total wealth of these pages, we still only glimpse a

needs nourishment. It rarely flourishes in isolation. As you

corner of the magnitude of this subject and the infinity of

draw, seek ideas in the life around you. Look to your own

what can be achieved. This practical journey will take you

experience and also learn from the work of others.

through the door into the vivid heart of drawing. Once

Drawing is a living language that over millennia has

there, the path is yours. The real drawing book has yet to

grown and changed, adapting its form and occupation, and

come; it will be your creation as you discover your own

enfolding new media. The chapters of this book present

personal vision.

A N ARTIST'S HANDS These are the hands of the artist Phyll Kiggell (see p. 150).Their elegant strength seems to summon a lifetime of drawing, and became a great subject for me. I was particularly attracted to their gentle articulation and understated determination, caught between action and repose.

ELECTRIC BULL With a penlight, Picasso has just finished his drawing, which is held frozen in space by a camera lens. Its sensuous and flowing line seems to drift like smoke, threedimensionally. Picasso is poised smiling, staring straight through his image of a bull, which of course he cannot see.

Picasso Painting with Light at the Madoura

Pottery

1949

INTRODUCTION

20

Drawing Books and Papers T o BEGIN YOUR EXPLORATION o f d r a w i n g , y o u n e e d a

lifetime; cheap corrugated plastic ones fall apart in days.

drawing book. There are dozens to choose from. Gleaming

Alternatively, study the structure of a good portfolio and

store purchases vary greatly in format, binding, color,

make your own. You simply need two strong boards hinged

texture, thickness, quality, and cost. Homemade books can

together well, ties on either side to keep your papers in

be assembled easily from found materials or selections of

place, and handles to lift the weight of your artworks.

loose sheet papers, which are also sold in an enormous range. Art students often make use of printed books picked up from secondhand stores into

Drawing boards are invaluable. They can be very expensive in art stores; it is better to have them made at a lumber yard or home improvement store. Calculate a range of

which they draw, cut, and

useful dimensions and have several cut at once. Smooth

collage their ideas. It is also

plywood, thick enough not to flex, is perfect. Sand the

useful to own a portfolio. A

edges to avoid splinters. If you intend to carry your boards

high-quality one will last a

for a distance, be sure they fit comfortably under your arm.

DRAWING BOOKS Select d r a w i n g b o o k s t o suit y o u r aims. F o r e v e n i n g classes, c h o o s e larger f o r m a t s t o give y o u s c o p e f o r e x p e r i m e n t . F o r traveling, c h o o s e s m a l l e r h a r d - b o u n d b o o k s t h a t fit in y o u r p o c k e t o r bag; t h e i r jackets w i l l a c t like d r a w i n g b o a r d s a n d p r o t e c t y o u r w o r k . Many artists invent ways o f binding their o w n books. Dissecting a d i s c a r d e d h a r d - b o u n d b o o k w i l l s o o n s h o w y o u h o w it is m a d e ; t h i s is h o w I l e a r n e d . 1. C A N V A S - C O V E R E D H A R D -

c o l o r If planning t o use pencils,

6. H O M E M A D E : I m a d e this

B O U N D : Ideal f o r c a r r y i n g

pastels, a n d crayons, b e a w a r e

b o o k f r o m drawing paper that

a r o u n d ; a l e n g t h o f black elastic

t h a t p a p e r t e x t u r e effects a n d

I folded, stitched, and glued t o

t i e d a r o u n d t h e m i d d l e will h o l d

changes t h e i r marks.

a s t r i p o f bias binding. T h e hard-

f o l d in c o l l e c t e d items. N o t e t h e

4. R I N G - B O U N D PADS:

canvas beneath t h e p a p e r sleeve.

w i d e l y differing c h o i c e o f p a p e r s

T h e s e are t h e least expensive

w i t h w h i c h t h e s e are m a d e .

a n d useful f o r o p e n i n g flat.

2. BLACK P O C K E T B O O K S :

break. Purchase a h i g h - q u a l i t y

Hand-sized w i t h ready-made elastic

r i n g - b o u n d p a d if y o u w i s h t o

binder and a marker ribbon. Most

keep your drawings together

contain thin p a p e r and are perfect

long-term.

the contents together w h e n y o u

b o a r d j a c k e t is s t r e t c h e d w i t h

H o w e v e r r i n g bindings o f t e n

f o r use w i t h disposable pens. 5. F O U N D B O O K S : O l d p r i n t e d 3 . C O L O R E D PAPERS: Large

novels, catalogs, a n d r e f e r e n c e

a r t supply stores o f t e n sell t h i c k

b o o k s f o u n d in s e c o n d - h a n d

b o o k s full o f c o l o r e d p a p e r s .

s t o r e s make unique subjects

These are perfect f o r w o r k i n g in

f o r e x p e r i m e n t s a n d collage.

Tantalus o r The Future of Man

2002

81/2 x61/4in (215 x 158 mm) ROSE MILLER

PAPERS

Papers differ in thickness (weight), size, texture, color; absorbency, Ph, and cost. They are hand-, mold-, or machine made in sheets, blocks, or rolls. Cotton papers are high-quality and acid-free, resisting deterioration. Cheap wood-pulp papers are acidic, turning brown and brittle. Use cheap paper for rough ideas and quality paper for work to last See the glossary ( p p . 2 5 6 - 5 9 ) for explanations of rough, cold, not, and hot pressed papers. 7.TISSUE PAPER: Place sheets between drawing book pages to keep images from printing on each other and use for delicate collage.

9. METALLIC PAPER: Thin

16. AQUARELLE ARCHES

wrapping. It is also excellent for

paper in different metallic

drawing with marker pens on

colors, printed on one side only.

300GMS:The very top quality hot-pressed (smooth) watercolor paper. 100% cotton and sold in sheets, blocks, and rolls. For use with any media.

8. GLASSINE: Sold as protective

layered sheets. 10. MAGIC PAPER: A reusable sheet for testing ideas without creating waste. Use with a brush in clean water Water makes a dark mark like ink and becomes invisible again when dry.

17. FABRIANO R O U G H 600GMS: Very heavy, tough, white textured paper that can take abrasive use of any medium.

11. C A R B O N PAPER: Available in dark and light blue, yellow, red, and white, used to imprint lines of these colors onto a surface. 12. SAUNDERS WATERFORD N O T 300GMS: Mid-quality textured watercolor paper. 13. JAPANESE PAPER: Strong, fine, and translucent, it is made from rice, bamboo, mulberry, and other plant fibers. Use for brushwork drawings. 14. T W O RIVERS GREEN 410G MS: Very heavy tinted textured cold-pressed watercolor paper See Two Rivers Yellow. 15. FABRIANO ACADEMIA: Standard medium-range multipurpose paper Use with any media, from pencil to paint

18. T W O RIVERS Y E L L O W 410GMS: See Two Rivers Green 19. VELIN ARCHES 250GMS: Printmaking paper available in black white, and cream sheets or rolls. 20. C A N S O N : Inexpensive lightweight pastel paper in many colors, also good for drawing with colored pencils. 21. FABRIANO INGRES: Thin, smooth, pastel paper in flecked pastel colors with a distinctive ribbed marking. 22. ITALIAN PARCHMENT: Imitation-animal-skin parchment that is translucent and slightly waxy. It is available in white or cream.

INTRODUCTION

22

Posture and Grip T o DRAW WELL, your whole relaxed b o d y should be

correct side: if right-handed, place it on your right, a n d

involved. In this book we will look at parallels between

look to the left of it at your subject; if left-handed, place

drawing and music. There are also parallels to dance. You

it on your left, and look to the right. There should be an

do not have to dance to draw, but you need to understand

open, flowing space between your hand, body, and subject.

that the expression of a line or mark originates in the body

Placing your easel o n the w r o n g side folds y o u r b o d y

and flows t h r o u g h the shoulder, arm, a n d h a n d to the

against your drawing arm. If seated on a b e n c h easel (a

fingertips. If your body posture is well balanced and you

donkey), or with your drawing board angled between your

can move freely, your drawing will reflect this. It will also

lap and a chair, don't sit too close to the paper. If your hand

reflect discomfort if you are in any way cramped.

twists to maneuver between the paper and your body, your

How you hold your drawing materials is also important.

lines will distort. Accelerated perspective also occurs if you

Examples are shown here, b u t it should n o t be forgotten

look down the surface steeply (see pp. 116-17).

that many people make remarkable a n d striking works

should be able to look

drawing with their feet or holding their brush or pencil

comfortably straight ahead

in their mouths. If using an upright easel, place it on the

at your picture plane.

Ideally, you

SPACE TO WORK

Drawing classes can be cramped places, but wherever possible, make sure you have enough room to back away and view your work. Regularly step back 6-9 ft (2-3 m) to check your progress. From a distance you will spot errors you cannot see close up. Turning your drawing sideways or upside-own will also help reveal what is wrong.

Cramped grip. This photograph illustrates how some people hold a pen to write. You cannot draw like this—your hand is locked and your fingers can barely move. This cramped grip tires your hand and makes small, strangledlooking drawings.

Relaxed fingers: Hold the pencil away from its tip and relax your fingers. Use the side of your little fingernail as a support on the page. With your hand in this position, you can draw lines freely and achieve a significant arc of movement.

23

U n f a m i l i a r i t y : T h e habitual

movements of our handwriting style will sometimes infringe upon our drawing. To stop this, find an unfamiliar, alternative way of holding the pencil, or change to the wrong hand. This can give a new lease on life to your mark-making.

ALL MEDIA

GRAVITY

There are no rules as to how you should hold your drawing media. As long as your fingers, arm, and body are not restricted, hold your material as you find most comfortable, depending upon what it is and how large you are working.

Remember that gravity affects the flow of ink and paint. If you turn a brush or dip pen up into the air to draw above your hand, liquid will run down your hand, not up to the paper Brushes can be used on upright paper but dip Anticipating effects: A fully loaded pens need a level surface. brush pressed against an upright surface will cause a dribble of ink to run down your drawing. This can be used to great effect, or it can spoil your work if not anticipated.

Short materials such as pastels and charcoal can be accommodated in the palm. But be careful not to tense your fingers. Remember you can also draw just by dipping your fingers in pigment—this is how many women draw in rural India.

Soft media:

Brush calligraphy: This comfortable, upright way of holding the brush near its base is similar to the Japanese way used in Zen calligraphy (see pp.232-33). Large amounts of ink can be applied without fear of uncontrolled running if the paper is flat.

POSTURE AND GRIP

This loose "candle" grip is very useful when drawing with your arm extended, roughly marking out a large-scale work. It is most comfortable when reaching to draw above your head. Large scale:

Animals H

UMANS HAVE DRAWN ANIMALS

from the beginning of our time. After the subject of

ourselves, they are perhaps our favorite pictorial preoccupation. We have drawn

them on the walls of caves to evoke their kinship and power. W e have drawn them in m a n u s c r i p t s to explain our genesis and to c o u n t their species into Noah's ark. In medieval England, the Latin bestiary was one of the most popular picture books—an illustrated dictionary of one hundred parts, each dedicated to the moralized tale of an animal or monster The bestiary profoundly influenced the art of its period, and we still see escapees from its pages carved and grinning as the gargoyles of churches, or scampering through the initials and borders of pictures from that time. W h e n lost to explain our own emotions, we turn and take the features of beasts. In 19th-century Europe this became a "science." Paranoid newcomers c r a m m e d into swelling industrial cities used handbooks of physiognomy to identify and judge their neighbors. Facial features were analyzed in terms of their animal likeness, from which personality and predicted behavior were " d e d u c e d . " Animals perpetually feed our imaginations. As children we delight in the humanized trials of Tom and Jerry and their c a r t o o n relations. O v e r the centuries, bats, birds, fish, dogs, and snakes have between them engendered harpies, mermaids, werewolves, and dragons. JOHN WHITE British artist, cartographer, and pioneer born c. 1540. On the Roanoke voyages of Sir Walter Raleigh, White's commission was to "...drawe to lief one of each kinde of thing that is strange to us in England." He worked with the scientist Thomas Harriot, who described in words what White drew. Together they made maps and documented animals, insects, plants, and people. This drawing is made in black lead (metal point) with watercolor Highlights of silver would have gleamed, out are now oxidized and so appear black

W h e n less preoccupied with understanding ourselves, we have employed artists on expeditions, to be there at the m o m e n t of discovery, and to bring h o m e drawn documentaries of their finds. Here (left) we see J o h n White's exquisite record of a flying fish, which very likely leaped o n t o the deck of Sir Walter Raleigh's ship Tiger as it sailed north from the Caribbean to Virginia in 1585. Europeans on board had never seen such a thing, and this very drawing was to endure many copies and plagiarisms after its triumphant return to the English court of Queen Elizabeth I. For the novice artist, animals provide a perfect subject with which to begin. Framed in the z o o or in domestic cohabitation, their different speeds and patterns of action, which are so unlike ours, offer challenges and delights to draw. In this chapter we discover the use of pens and ink through the delineation of insects, and learn how to

Flying Fish

c. 1590

capture form and movement from the m a n n e r i s m s of honking geese, sleeping dogs,

11 x91/4in (277 x 234 mm) J O H N WHITE

floating turtles, and silent, m u s e u m - m o u n t e d skeletons of birds.

ANIMALS

26

Documentaries DURER'S RHINOCEROS AND STUBBS'S skeletal

horse are superb affirmations of the power of drawing as a recorder and communicator of knowledge. The first live rhinoceros to reach Europe came from India in May 1515, a gift to the Portuguese King. He in turn sent the mysterious creature to the Pope via Marseilles at the request of the King of France. Sailing to Rome, the ship was lost, but the drowned animal washed ashore. Carefully stuffed, it continued its journey to Rome. Meanwhile, a drawing of it arrived in Nuremberg, the home of ALBRECHT DURER German Renaissance painter, draftsman, printmaker, naturalist, writer, and mathematician. Durer traveled widely to study at different European schools of art, filled journals with ideas and observations, and wrote four books on proportion.

Durer. He studied the image and drew his own interpretation. Converted into a print, Durer's image changed eager hands until it was known across Europe. It was to become the animal's only accepted likeness for 250 years, inspiring countless works of art and so touching people's imaginations that later, when more accurate portrayals were made without armor and scales, they were rejected. Stubbs's Anatomy of the Horse achieved similar documentary status. Unsurpassed, it is still consulted by veterinarians today, years after its publication.

Life-like This is Durer's original quill-and-ink drawing made after an anonymous Portuguese drawing. It is such a lifelike triumph of imagination and intelligence that for centuries

Original Ink Drawing of a Rhinoceros

zoologists never questioned its authority. Contemporary texts

1515

related accounts of the beast as the mortal enemy of the

103/4 x 161/2 in ( 2 7 4 x 4 2 0 mm)

elephant and rare relative of the "more common" unicorn.

ALBRECHT DURER

GEORGE STUBBS B r i t i s h e q u i n e a n d s o c i e t y p o r t r a i t painter, naturalist, a n d anatomist. Stubbs w a s o n e o f t h e first E u r o p e a n artists t o m a k e a n a c c u r a t e representation o f the rhinoceros. His painted p o r t r a i t o f t h e b e a s t is in t h e R o y a l C o l l e g e o f S u r g e o n s o f England, L o n d o n . Stubbs's m o s t c e l e b r a t e d publication, Anatomy

of the

Horse,

c o m p r i s e s 1 8 p l a t e s s h o w i n g d i s s e c t i o n s in l a y e r s f r o m b o n e t h r o u g h m u s c u l a t u r e t o skin, in t h r e e v i e w s — r e a r f r o n t , a n d s i d e .

Dissections Stubbs took his knife and his pencil and physically climbed inside the horse, dissecting

and drawing until he

understood the mechanisms of its power and grace. Dissections were made over a total of 18 months. The entire project was developed over ten years. This is one of Stubbs' original finished pencil drawings, composed

from notes and observations.

He

translated his own drawings into engravings for publication.

Lighting Stubbs's breathtaking international

work won

immediate

acclaim, which has never diminished.

is no other work like it. He composed

There

each plate from his

knowledge of parts, and therefore invented the lighting that makes each horse appear

so real and

three-dimensional.

Compare how Stubbs and Durer both invented lighting to portray the reality of their animals.

Table of the

III of the Horse

Skeleton

(rear

view)

1756-58 1 4 x 7 in ( 3 5 4 x 1 8 0 GEORGE

STUBBS

mm)

ANIMALS

28

Presence and Mood THESE DRAWINGS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN to s h o w t w o v e r y

from the dark of the sea and of our nightmares. Apparently

different ways of picturing a wild animal. H u g o mixed his

drawn in its o w n ink, it silently rises to the light, conjured

media and drew from m e m o r y and imagination to create

b y the hand of a great author of French literary fiction.

narrative atmosphere. By contrast, Gericault took a sharp

Gericault's sheet a p p e a r s almost s c r a t c h e d b y the

p e n c i l to m a k e repeated direct o b s e r v a t i o n s f r o m life.

f e r o c i o u s play of his cat. He has w a t c h e d her p o u n c e ,

Hugo's page is f l o o d e d w i t h the fearful presence of a

snarl, and turn, drawing her again and again to pin d o w n

remembered octopus. A s if disturbed from its gritty b e d

the texture of her loose skin, her b o n y frame, her sharp

by our presence and curiosity, the ominous beast unwinds

teeth, and her distinctive temperament.

VICTOR HUGO Poet, novelist, playwright, and leader of the French Romantic movement. Hugo's novels Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre

Dame have become classics of film and stage. His copious drawings are characterized by mixed media, drama, and a love of accident.

Layers and shadows Throughout this drawing, linseed oil soaked into the paper has made shadows and repelled the ink to create translucent tentacles. The octopus is formed in layers applied and distressed with a brush. Surrounding sprays of graphite powder are stuck into washes of oil and ink to suggest glutinous

depths.

Mixed media Here, Hugo used graphite powder, ink and linseed oil on paper. He wrote to poet and art critic Charles-Pierre Baudelaire about his experiments,

saying

"... I've ended up mixing in pencil, charcoal, sepia, coal dust, soot, and all sorts of bizarre concoctions which manage to convey

more

or less what I have in view, and above all in

mind...".

Pieuvre

1866-69 91/2 x81/8in (242 x 207 mm) VICTOR H U G O

29

THEODORE GERICAULT

Repeated study This drawing demonstrates

C o n t r o v e r s i a l , fiery, s h o r t - l i v e d French R o m a n t i c painter and lithographer Largely self-taught; horses w e r e a favorite subject t o g e t h e r w i t h politics and history. H e is best k n o w n f o r his gigantic painting, The Raft of the Medusa, displayed in the Louvre, Paris.

of feeling confident

Undertraces

Beneath these graphite studies we see

of drawings Gericault

traces

erased. At the center of the page is

repeat different

the importance

enough to isolate parts of a

views, and keep trying again.

subject

Remaining

focused upon seeing will lead to a greater understanding of the subject Much is learned from repeated study, and it can be applied

to

any subject (see

pp.118-119).

Tones On the top row we see clearly how Gericault laid broad areas of tone using fast, parallel, diagonal

strokes

Sketches of a Wild Striped Cat

the outline of a horse, standing sideways, facing right. Before

of his pencil. Tones that do not follow surface contour is

paper became so cheap, artists reused sheets and

crammed

very difficult to do well, since it can lead to a flattened form.

1817-18

drawings

Beginners are advised to follow the natural contours of form

121/2 x 151/2 in ( 3 1 9 x 3 9 8 mm) T H E O D O R E GERICAULT

them full of studies. Here, undertraces unify and vitalize the

composition.

of previous

as shown on pp. 124-25

and p. 144.

ANIMALS

30

Movement M O V E M E N T IS OFTEN THE CHARACTERISTIC b y w h i c h w e

their lines and the power of their beasts. In Picasso's drawing,

identify an animal: the fast cheetah, slow tortoise, flapping

noise is everywhere. His powdery, dissolving faun kneels

bird, or proud, quivering horse. Artists commonly focus

stranded, overwhelmed by a screeching bird, the whinnying

on such actions, taking them to guide their hand in bringing

of a frantic horse, and waves breaking distantly below.

form and essence together. In these two drawings, made only

Klee's riders are constructed from all the gestures of greeting

a year apart, we see semi-abstract, flattened animals composed

mules. The fact that they never stand still influences the move-

almost entirely of movement. Both Picasso and Klee have

ment in his line. His hand must have shuddered and twitched

enclosed their subjects to compress and amplify the speed of

just like the constant actions of this humorous meeting.

PABLO PICASSO

Ink and gouache This drawing is made in black Chinese ink

A prolific Spanish painter sculptor, draftsman, printmaker ceramicist graphic and stage designer who lived in France. Picasso cofounded Cubism, the first abstract movement of the 20th century, with George Braque (see p90).

and gouache (opaque watercolor) applied with a brush. The ink is used to make sharply defined solid, hooked, and scrolled

Faune, Cheval et Oiseau

lines. Gouache is brushed softly in translucent hazy layers of

1936

cool blue, gray, and brown. These media complement and

173/8 x 211/4 in ( 4 4 0 x 5 4 0 m m )

amplify each other with their brilliant contrast.

PABLO PICASSO

PAUL

KLEE

Swiss painter; sculptor, draftsman, printmaker, violinist, and t e a c h e r at t h e Bauhaus school. W i t h his drawings Kleeb o u n d sophisticated theories to personal and often witty childlike imagery. He is a u t h o r o f The Thinking Eye (1923), well-worn copies o f w h i c h are found in m a n y art schools.

Layers of marks

In this pale

Dentil drawing we see layers of' agitated marks that together present a kind of visual "itch." They chatter around bodies

in groups, turning our eye and around inside the and postures of the paper-

thin on pictorial space.

Endless lines Look closely at how Klee's lines rarely leave the paper and how they are free from the constraint of finite shape. They remain in contact with the surface of the page and scribble back and forth as they maneuver from one area to another. The entire drawing suggests the endless small movements of horses standing still.

Scene

der Komischen

(Scene

of Comical

Reiter Riders)

1935 161/2x111/2in ( 4 1 9 x 2 9 1

mm)

M o r t o n G . N e u m a n n Family Collection, Chicago PAUL KLEE

creatures,

all happily top

of each other in the

ANIMALS

32

Icon and Design IN

THESE T W O MANUSCRIPTS

we discover diagrammatic

and mackerel's tail" (full bow, slim stern), it would achieve

drawings of animals that are each held tightly in a surprising

greater speed, balance, and steerage. This drawing illustrates

space: a giant fish wears a ship's hull, and blackbirds fly in

Baker's theory, which in application gave strength and

formation through a mosaic of text. Baker lived in an era

advantage to the English fighting the Spanish Armada.

when ships were built without drawn plans. Below we see

In contrast to the practical clarity of Baker's thought,

his revolutionary design for an Elizabethan warship, later

Knopf's drawing opposite is the personal enigmatic expression

called a galleon. He studied the anatomy of fish, and from

of a mind gripped by illness. His birds stare, seemingly

them learned that if he designed his ship with a "cod's head

looking for our attention, and to assess our next move.

MATTHEW BAKER

The fish It is likely that Baker

The ship The upper decks of the

Master shipwright, mathematician, and author o f

drew with a quill dipped in iron-

ship appear curved toward us at

Fragments of Ancient English Shipwrightry

gall ink, adding washes of color

both ends. Baker did not intend

Fragments

t h e earliest geometrically defined elevations,

with a fine brush. Exquisite details

this. It is simply how we read his

English

(1586),

of

Ancient

Shipwrightry

plans, and s e c t i o n s o f ships. B a k e r initiated

in this drawing include the lips of

perspective. In just one drawing he

1586

t h e scientific p r a c t i c e o f naval a r c h i t e c t u r e

the fish, the expression of its eye,

has displayed more angles of his

101/2 x 153/8 in

and applied h y d r o d y n a m i c s , b a s e d o n his

and the carefully observed gills,

design than we would expect to

(270 x 390 mm)

studies o f fish.

fins, and scales.

see from a single viewpoint

MATTHEW

BAKER

JOHANN KNOPF

Outline and tone The blackbirds illuminating this frantic

An " O u t s i d e r " a r t i s t w h o s u f f e r e d f r o m m e n t a l

manuscript are drawn in pencil, firmly outlined, numbered,

illness.K n o p f b e l i e v e d h e c o u l d u n d e r s t a n d t h e

and filled evenly with tone. The main group is placed in

language o f birds, w h i c h o f t e n f e a t u r e as s y m b o l i c

a circle drawn with a compass. The text, written last of all,

creatures

appears to be stirred like water by the presence of the

in his drawings. T h e G e r m a n a r t historian

and psychiatrist Hans Prinzhom collected this image.

circle and the birds.

The Mysterious Affairs of the Murderous Attacks UNDATED 133/8 x 115/8 in (340 x 2 9 6 mm)

JOHANN KNOPF

ANIMALS

34

Pen and Ink W I T H A HANDFUL OF FEATHERS, s t i c k s , a n d m e t a l p o i n t s ,

from the acacia tree, and first used by the Egyptians. The

you can have great fun drawing the world around you.

Chinese used animal or fish glue. The paste from either

Intricate or dramatic lines, spots, and spatters can be made

recipe is pressed and dried into a bar for storage. The bar

with an exotic choice of inks. The Egyptians and Chinese

is then rubbed into water on a slate block to produce ink.

are credited with the invention of carbon ink, simultaneously

Today, high-quality Chinese and Japanese inks are subtler

4 , 5 0 0 years ago, and it is still in use today. A German

and more complex than those produced in Europe. Masters

recipe of 1531 gives a simple description: "Take a wax

choose brands of long, distinguished manufacture, the recipes

candle, light it, and hold it under a clean

for which have been handed down over centuries. In the Far

basin until the soot hangs to it; then pour a little warm gum water into it and temper the two

East, ink is traditionally applied with a brush (see

pp.246-47).

Dip pens began their history in the Nile River, where reeds were gathered. Quills were later cut from feathers, while metal

together. That is an ink." "Gum"

nibs began as rare gifts in gold and silver before being

refers to gum arabic extracted

perfected by the British steel industry.

PENS

Dip pens are essential and inexpensive drawing tools, which range greatly in their handling and character of line. Responsive to slight changes in pressure, they are associated with rapid, expressive drawing techniques such as the ones we explore in this chapter 1. REED PENS: A broad nib can be cut

4. METAL PENS: Inexpensive removable

from bamboo or another tubular grass.

steel nibs are available in a range of

Each pen has a unique character,

widths. They fit into wooden holders.

producing a different line.

Avoid needle-sharp mapping pens, which scratch rather than draw.

2. QUILLS: These are cut from the barrel of a flight or tail feather. The best are goose or swan. Early artists recommended raven and crow for especially fine work. 3. F O U N T A I N PENS: These vary in quality and nib width. The reservoir gives a constant flow of ink for very long unbroken lines and continuous bottle-free use. Only fill with suitable inks.

35

PEN AND INK

INKS

Four types of ink were common before the 20th century, and are still in use today: carbon (Chinese and Indian), iron-gall, bistre, and sepia. Now we also have acrylic ranges in many colors. Inks can be lightfast or non-lightfast, waterproof or non-waterproof, and most can be homemade. 5. C A R B O N INK: Traditionally produced

7. I N D I A N INK: Carbon ink sold today

from oil or resin soot (Lamp Black),

in liquid form. Waterproof types contain

roastedwine sediment (Yeast Black).

shellac. It dries with a sheen and clogs

charred bone (Ivory Black), or charcoal, suspended

in a binder and stored as a

solid block Blocks are imported today

uncleaned pens. Non-waterproof Indian inks can be reworked with a wet brush after drying. Old stock turns solid and bottles from China. are not dated.

6. I R O N - G A L L INK: Abnormal spherical growths caused by parasitic wasps can be collected from some oak trees in fall.

8. SEPIA A N D BISTRE INKS: Sepia, an often misused term, is the ink of a cuttlefish or squid extracted post-mortem.

Crushed, boiled, reduced, and sieved, they

Bistre is the more humane use of soot

produce a golden dye for drawing. The

scraped from the fireplace and ground

complexities of traditional iron-gall ink

into wine. Beechwood soot is best.

are explained on p.36.

9. ACRYLIC / CALLIGRAPHY INKS: Available in black and a range of colors. Excellent for drawing they are bright and non-clogging, and can be mixed and diluted to create subtler colors and tones. They are the easiest inks to use.

ANIMALS

36

Drawing With Ink To

keep all your fingers behind

basis of iron-gall ink, can also be collected from affected trees,

the blade and cut away from you. Practice to gain a feel for

crushed, and boiled to make a golden ink. For centuries, galls

how materials behave, then cut a final nib (feathers, for

were ground with iron sulfate to make an unstable solution.

example, are surprisingly tough.) You can make ink easily

Running fresh, it was gray-purple. It dried black, and turned

from the boiled, reduced, sieved, fleshy skins that surround

brown with time. It also oxidized and ate or burned paper.

ripe walnuts. Collect skins from the ground beneath trees

Some of Michelangelo's drawings are now a little eaten by

once they are blackened. Walnut ink is gloopy, red-brown,

their own ink. Although oak galls and walnut skins are

MAKE A QUILL OR REED PEN,

and delicious to draw with. Oak galls, forming the

harmless, always be cautious when experimenting with recipes.

REED PENS

QUILL PENS

R e e dpens dispense ink quickly, giving a s h o r t , d r y mark. U n d e r heavy pressure, t h e y stick a n d j u d d e r f o r w a r d . I u s e d t h e s e qualities t o d r a w t h e w o r m s above. Rembrandt, V a n G o g h , a n d M a t i s s e also e n j o y e d t h e m . Scribes o f t h e M i d d l e Ages, finding reed p e n s unwieldy, r e s e r v e d t h e i r use f o r large c h o i r b o o k s , a n d d e v e l o p e d t h e quill instead.

Q u i l l s a r e highly r e s p o n s i v e t o c h a n g e s in p r e s s u r e . T h e y give a finer, m o r e e x t e n d e d line than reed and a m o r e organic line t h a n m e t a l . M i c h e l a n g e l o ' s d r a g o n o n p . 2 4 4 is an e x q u i s i t e e x a m p l e . Quills are also called D u t c h pens, since t h e D u t c h w e r e t h e first t o realize t h a t they could be hardened and i m p r o v e d w i t h heat t r e a t m e n t in ash o r sand.

Reed marks The darker left wing of this

Quill marks

beetle

reeds, giving longer lines. The darkest

was drawn

with

the wet

inky stroke

wing, drawn to glisten

with a dryer nib,

where the mark has

ink

than strokes

of this grasshopper

(around

wings)

first. Paler strokes

broken

the legs and antennae show paper

right

more

appears

to

of a loaded nib. The lighter

Quills carry

beneath.

were made

the ink ran out.

the head

were made

and for as

37

DRAWING WITH INK

METAL PENS Metal pens give long, sharp, clean strokes, withstanding great pressure without sticking, breaking, o r being ruined as fountain pens would be under the same pressure. Loaded with ink and pressed hard, they splay to make thick o r double lines. W h e n the nib is pressed upside down, marks become fine and needle-sharp.

Filled outlines Each segment of wing was outlined,

Ink layers The wings of this beetle

then filled with a droplet of ink. The

particles

of pigment

to fall to the edges

of the shape, giving a graded, tonal

effect

were

drawn in layers using black and white ink on pale gray paper. Each layer domeof of thethedrawing drying droplet was left to dry before adding more. White markings were drawn last

Tones Here we see subtle tones of diluted ink beneath the undiluted black rim of a beetle's wing. When using dip pens, it is important to feel for when the ink will run out and to know how much ink you pick up when dipping the nib.

ANIMALS

38

Capturing Character GEESE ARE EXCELLENT SUBJECTS to draw when practicing the

outline. Quick drawing trains you to see what is most

first use of pen and ink. It happens that goose feathers also

important about a subject and to mark only its most

provide artists with the best type of quills. That said, there

essential expression. It teaches confidence and focus

is no obligation to prepare a quill; steel nibs are fine. Geese

through intensive repetition. Illustrating this exercise on

are nosy birds, so pick a spot where other people can keep

Oxford Port Meadow, I covered eleven sheets in sixty quick

them entertained. Study them before drawing. Watch their

drawings—in less than an hour.

heavy feathered bodies flap, waddle, and bellyflop off the

Experiment, test your limits, and be brave. You cannot

waterside. Dip your pen in ink, touch the bottle's rim to

break the nib, and there is no "wrong." If you don't like a

drain the excess, and boldly plunge into your drawing.

stroke, make another one. Cover your drawing book pages

Focus on the geese, not on your drawing. Attempt

in speedy responses to the geese and try to capture each

with a loose hand to capture their posture and

bird in as few lines as possible.

MATERIALS NEEDED

Pack plenty of tissue around a bottle of calligraphy or acrylic ink, to absorb blots when drawing. Take a cup and water for diluting a range of tones, and a large drawing book or plenty of paper Use masking tape to secure pages against the wind.

Posture

Look for a bird expressing a simple posture. Focus on it. Try to hold the whole posture in your mind's eye, and quickly draw around it using only three or four strokes. Empathize, draw what the bird is doing, be bold and press firmly, Take no more than ten seconds to draw each one and make lots of drawings. Cover a sheet.

39 With growing confidence, look among the birds for more complicated actions such as shaking off water, running, flapping, and diving. Use more lines than before to express these. Again, draw the feeling of what you see. and don't worry about mechanical facts or accuracy.

Texture Gradually allow yourself more lines to describe the texture of each bird as well as its posture and action. Avoid detail unless really tempted by a close-up visit Fluctuate the pressure of your pen in response to how you know the bird would feel if you touched it.

CAPTURING CHARACTER

Action

ANIMALS

40

Sleeping Dogs R A S WAS A GREAT CHARACTER, a d o g w h o w a s a l w a y s

town. Sleeping animals present the artist with ideal

engaged in his and everyone else's business. The only time

opportunities to study their texture, form, and personality.

he remained still was when he was sleeping, and even then

For this class you will need one oblivious dog, your

he twitched and stretched in dreams. These drawings are not

drawing book, a dip pen and ink of your choice (see

an analysis of his anatomy or breed but the expression of

together with a glass of water for diluting tones on the nib.

his satisfied comfort in a deep sleep after a night out on the

and a tissue for blotting drawn lines that appear too dark.

pp.34-37),

MAKING A PALE LINE To make a pale line, first dip your pen in ink, and drain the excess by touching the nib against the rim of the bottle. Then dip the nib quickly into a glass of water and drain the excess again. This will give a medium-gray line. Dip the nib quickly again into water and again drain it. Now it will make a pale line. Make a test sheet to discover your control of diluting on the nib.

Ras Curled Up Asleep

"Capturing the true character of a cherished companion is best achieved with objective determination rather than sentimental shyness."

41

Be bold in this exercise. Character is better captured

drawing quickly with confidence

SLEEPING

DRAWING YOUR DOG than w o r k i n g slowly, c o n c e r n e d a b o u t detail. First lines are first thoughts; second thoughts may be different Changing your

drawing alive.

1

Fix your eyes at the center of the dog.

Then, ignoring all detail, see how the animal's posture determines its whole shape. W i t h pale lies, quickly draw what you see. Trust your intuition. D o not go back over lines you are pleased with—doing so dulls their lively freshness.

2

Reload your pen with ink, this time to create a line a little darker in tone. Remain focused on the whole dog and, in bold layers, add more detail. Here I marked the features of Ras's head. Then I immediately rebalanced the drawing with lines around his hind quarters, to emphasize how he is curled up.

Gradually introduce darker tones. Here, I added ink to Ras's nose, ears, tail, and the shadows in his coat. To add texture, alter the pressure and moisture of your line in response to howyouknow your dog feels when you ruffle itscoat.It is essential when drawing any subject (even something abstract) to know how it feels andtoemulate this with your line.

3

DOGS

mind is a positive aspect o f seeing and thinking. Layers o f thoughts can bring a

Turtles

THE ELONGATION AND BUOYANCY of a group of turtles is fascinating

to observe. Beyond the glass wall of the aquarium, they stretch and paddle, swinging their limbs and shells with a slow circular movement. A perfect subject for the beginner, turtles often pause unexpectedly, as if caught in a camera freeze-frame, offering plenty of time for the artist to draw the pose.

Dry Birds THESE ARE THE ARTICULATED BONES o f a k i w i a n d a h o u s e -

martin drawn in a museum using a steel pen, India ink, and water. Beginning with very pale tones, I darkened lines as each drawing progressed. With speed, I sought to capture the form, balance, and sharp, dry, weightlessness of the kiwi. I made repeated studies of the housemartin to discover its mechanism of flight.

Plants and Gardens W

E SHARE THIS PLANET

with the more ancient, robust, infinitely vivid, and diverse

kingdom of plants, on which our lives depend. We collect, nurture, and

hybridize them for our sustenance and pleasure. We draw them to celebrate their beauty and range, to catalog our knowledge, and to ornament our lives. Plants are the principal inspiration of the decorative arts—from Roman Corinthian columns crowned with carved leaves of the acanthus, to the proliferation of floral designs with which we have dressed ourselves and furnished our homes for centuries. Botanical illustration is a precisely defined and scientific art. From its history there is one overriding lesson to be learned: the importance of looking and seeing with our own eyes. Early European illustrators were trapped within dogma that was determined by ancient scholarship. Medieval knowledge was not gained by the first-hand observation of life but by reading. The revolution came in the 1530s, B A S I L I U SBESLER when botanists founded new work upon the direct study of plants. Fledgling years Botanist and apothecary who compiled the Hortus Eystettensis of scientific research bore manifold explosions of knowledge in a fever of discovery. —-the largest and most influential botanical book of the early Natural scientists accompanied explorers to document unknown finds. Plants seventeenth century. It was published plain in 1611 and withhand-paintedplates in poured off ships returning from the New World and were eagerly collected and 1613.Morethan 1,000 species of plants are depicted life-size drawn. Botanic gardens were established and expanded. Classifications were set in367copperengravings, Chapters are arranged by out. Patrons funded the breeding of decorative, as opposed to only herbal, season. Conrad von Gemmingen, PriceBishopof Eichstatt specimens. Rich owners of private gardens commissioned large-format florilegiums commissioned the volume to document his private garden to immortalize their personal taste and power of acquisition, and the drawn pages ofthesame name. He sent boxes of plants to Nuremburgburned with the urgency and excitement of explaining every plant's form, color, where a number of uncredited artistsd r e wthem for Besler. and beauty. Later, the microscope was refined to unfold yet another world. After Here Aconthus spinosus is combined with forget-me-nots four- and-a-half centuries of intensive observation, we now have laid before us to show how well their colours complement each other an infinite wealth of material to explore.

There are close parallels between the acts of gardening and drawing. Both embrace the anticipation of evolving shape, form, and texture; the punctuation of space with structure and mass; manipulations of light and shade; and the Acanthus

1613

spinosus

187/8x153/4in(480 x 400 mm) BASILIUS BESLER

constant but exhilarating struggle to make a living image feel right. In this chapter, we see very different cultural visions of plants and gardens and use pencils and plants to learn the pictorial values of space, shape, and focus.

PLANTS AND GARDENS

48

Botanical Studies

THE SCIENTIFIC VALUE OF A BOTANICAL DRAWING lies i n its

o p t i m i s m , Stella Ross-Craig said of the need to d r a w from a

subtle union of beauty, detail, and meticulous precision. Each

dried herbarium plant "I could make it live again." Her slipper

plant must b e clearly distinguished from its closest relative.

orchid s h o w s that botanical drawing must often resolve the

Botanical art c o n c e a l s the challenge of its m a k i n g . B e h i n d

challenge of its subject's p r o d u c i n g parts in different seasons

detailed, measured drawings, s u c h as w e see here in Bauer's

— r o o t s , stems, leaves, flowers, fruit, and seeds conventionally

Protea nitida,

were specimens that often refused to stay still,

a p p e a r o n o n e plate. T h e rest of u s are free to d r a w as w e

o p e n i n g a n d c l o s i n g i n the w a r m t h a n d light of the studio,

w i s h . Here, M a c k i n t o s h e x p r e s s e s the f o l d e d petals of a

or that were diseased, insect-ravaged, and wilted. W i t h bright

broken rose b u d so delicately w e can sense the perfume.

F R A N Z BAUER An Austrian artist who trained at the Schonbrunn Imperial Gardens in Vienna. Sir Joseph Banks, naturalist explorer and advisor to King George III invited Bauer to London in 1 7 9 0 . The King was then establishing the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and Franz Bauer and his brother Ferdinand were employed there to draw specimens. They are counted among the most accomplished 18th-century botanical artists.

Outline Bauer prepared a pencil outline before laying in fleshy succulent hues and tones of watercolor. Light in this drawing is given by the paleness of the paper showing between washes of darker tones.

Dissections Across the lower part of this drawing we can see dissections of seed pods and petals. It is likely Bauer would have studied these under a microscope. He has made the spatial and physical relationships in this drawing all the more real by placing a single, delicate, petal tip over a lower leaf

Protea nitida

1796

201/4 x141/4in (513 x 362 mm) FRANZ BAUER

49 Scottish a r c h i t e c t d e s i g n e r painter; a n d f o u n d e r o f t h e G l a s g o w S c h o o l o f A r t M a c k i n t o s h ' s flair h a d an e n o r m o u s i n f l u e n c e o n t h e a v a n t - g a r d e in G e r m a n y a n d A u s t r i a , a n d he inspired, a m o n g o t h e r s , G u s t a v K l i m t In his r e t i r e m e n t Mackintosh m a d e n u m e r o u s inventive pencil a n d w a t e r c o l o r d r a w i n g s o f plants.

Lines and shadows

This lush, sensual pencil drawing is

found among Mackintosh's

later works. Closer to fiction

than reality, it is small and discreet, and it shows how design, imagination, and observation

can come

together

in one image. Pencil lines cling to, and follow

perfectly,

the nuance and contour of every

shadow.

Rose 1894 103/4 x 83/4 in ( 2 7 5 x 2 2 1

mm)

CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH

STELLA ROSS-CRAIG A

trained

botanical artist

Ross-Craig

j o i n e d t h e staff a t t h e R o y a l B o t a n i c G a r d e n s , K e w , L o n d o n in 1 9 2 9 . H e r Drawings of British Plants, p u b l i s h e d 1 9 4 8 - 7 3 in 3 1 p a r t s , is r e c o g n i z e d as tne m o s t c o m p l e t e a n d i m p o r t a n t work

o n British flora. A s m a n y

as

3,000

of her drawings are kept

at

Kew

G a r d e n s . S h e also

Curtis's Botanical Magazine,

to archive accessible t o d a y v i a t h e I n t e r n e t

Swift lines The drawing was planned in pencil and then overworked with a lithographic pen. Ross-Craig said of her work "Plants that wither rapidly present a very difficult problem to which there is only one answer—speed; and speed depends upon the immediate perception of the essential characteristics of the plant... and perfect coordination of hand and eye." This line drawing is one of 1,286 studies for her book Drawings of British Plants.

Line Drawing of Cypripedium calceolus L c. 1970 x 81/4 in ( 3 2 5 x 2 1 0 m m ) STELLA ROSS-CRAIG

contributed

of

o f thousands o f

an drawings,

BOTANICAL STUDIES

C H A R L E S RENNIE MACKINTOSH

PLANTS AND GARDENS

50

Jeweled Gardens the Middle East we find exquisite stylization of form and upright formality in pictorial space. The first Mughal Emperor Babur's Garden of Fidelity (Bagh-e Vaja), which he personally created near Kabul, Afghanistan, in the early 16th century, is remembered in the pages of his journal. Below, in miniature, Babur directs his gardeners in the design and planting of this quartered chahar bagh. Envoys chatter outside the gate, anticipating their view. Every fiber of AMONG DRAWINGS FROM

BISHNDAS A N D N A N H A Little is known of these Mughal painters who were related as uncle and nephew and commissioned to illustrate the pages of Babur's journal. Bishndas was probably responsible for the overall design, and Nanha, a notable portrait painter drew the faces.

paper is brimming with the beauty and celebration of nature, urgent attentive human activity, and miraculous growth. Opposite is the Rose of Mohammed; the sumptuous petals permeated with prayer and wisdom. Drawing, painting, and calligraphy are brought together to hold the sacred names of prophets and the 99 beautiful names of God. By Muslim tradition, roses took their form in a bead of perspiration on the brow of Mohammed as he passed through his heavenly journey.

Bright pigment These pages were illuminated by Mughal artists in the late 16th century. They used a fine brush to lay pigment over a line drawing. The white of the page shines through the brilliant color. Upright shallow

perspectives,

fluctuations in scale, uniform focus, and attention to detail are all shared with medieval European manuscript drawings.

Babur Supervising Out of the Garden of Fidelity c. 1590 85/8 x55/8in (219 x 1 4 4 mm) BISHNDAS AND NANHA

AKHLAQ-I RASUL ALLAH This is a detail o f a page from a n 1 8 t h - c e n t u r y Turkish manuscnpt a book of religious e t h i c s w r i t t e n in

Arabic. It is n o w k e p t

in

the O r i e n t a l C o l l e c t i o n s of Berlin, G e r m a n y .

Border The elegant border of this drawing was mode with a pen and ruler It cleverly compresses and defines the composition, so that overlapping petals and stems give an impression of fulfillment and abundance.

Sacred words The central rose is more solid than any other on the page. However, look closely and you will see words written in gold fluttering over the form of the flower, fragmenting its detail in a whisper of prayers.

Stylized motif A fine brush has been used throughout this drawing to apply inks and watercolors. The physical anatomy of the rosebud has been studied and translated into a repeated stylized motif. Note how each bud is essentially the same shape, and how the shape has been repeated freehand.

The Rose of

Mohammed

1708 9 1 / 2 x 61/2 in ( 2 4 0 x 1 6 5

mm)

FROM THE TURKISH M A N U S C R I P T AKHLAQ-I RASUL

ALLAH

t h e Staatsbibliothek

zu

PLANTS AND GARDENS

52

Fast Trees IN CONTRAST TO THE QUIET, formal detail of other drawings

weight of abundant activity on this late summer's day.

in this chapter, these powerful fast trees enact the actions

Mondrian's arch of scratching branches is drawn with

of plants. Each tree reaches out and holds its landscape with

such force it will always be alive. We can still feel his hand

dynamism and pulse. In both drawings we find testament

storming across the paper. Set within a frame of smudged

to the inexorable energy of growth.

landscape, the tree possesses a musical agitation. This

Rembrandt expresses a delicate quickness. Gentle lines

characteristic will increase in the artist's later abstract

draw a warm breeze through this remote wooded garden.

work. Here, we see a punctuated ordering of space. Sharp

Rustling in a loose foliage of soft marks, his pen evokes the

branches cut out negative shapes of winter sky.

R E M B R A N D T V A N RIJN Dutch painter; etcher; and draftsman. Rembrandt's prolific output comprises oil paintings of historical and religious subjects together with group and self- portraits. His emotive etchings and pen and ink drawings (see also p. 174) are great resources for artists learning to understand the potential of these media.

Horizon

Pen and ink lines describing foliage also tell

us the directions of sunlight and wind. An arc crossing the bottom of the drawing from one side to the other supports the scene and separates us from the landscape beyond. Compare Rembrandt's arc to that of Mondrian's. and note the similar treatment of low horizons in both works emphasizing the height and dominance of trees.

Cottage Among Trees 1648-50 63/4 x121/8in ( I 7 I x 308 mm) R E M B R A N D T V A N RIJN

53

MONDRIAN

Atmosphere Here we see how shapes of negative space are as important as the

and plane relationships. W i t h increasing austerity,

physical subject they enclose (see pp.58-59).

Mondrian banished t h e subject from his drawings,

Mondrian has again lightly dragged his chalk on

in his later w o r k he also banished space, composing

its side to evoke a wet depth of atmosphere.

visual h a r m o n i e s using only straight lines a n d flat

These passive gray marks contrast with the

planes o f black, w h i t e , gray, o r p r i m a r y color.

assertive tension of the tree.

Winter ground Short vertical marks along

FAST TREES

PIET

Dutch Pure abstract painter preoccupied w i t h line

Branches and trunk Lines shaping the branches of

thebottomof this drawing reveal the length

the tree are built up in layers. To make the trunk

oftheblackchalk Mondrian used. Rubbed

more dense, the artist has rubbed and smudged

onitsside,itroughly blocks in the ground.

preliminary marks with his fingers before firmly

Thecrudeeconomy of line is all we need

overdrawing with new lines. Solid black lines are

tofeelthecold, wet, unwelcoming quality

achieved by pressing the chalk hard. When used

ofthiswinterearth.

lightly, it shows the texture of the paper.

Tree: Study for the Grey

Tree

1911 23 x 335/8 in ( 5 8 4 x 8 5 5 m m )

PIET MONDRIAN

PLANTS AND GARDENS

54

Graphite and Erasers GRAPHITE, FROM THE G R E E K word

graphein

Modern pencils are graded from 9H (hard

(to write), is a soft and brittle carbon. It was

and pale) to 9B (black and soft). Graphite-

first mined in Cumbria, England, in 1 5 6 4 ,

clay sticks are also available, together with

and was initially used in small, pure pieces

a powder form. All possess a natural sheen

bound in lengths of string. Pencils as we

and are erasable to a varying degree.

know them—with their slender wood casing

Graphite drawings smudge easily, so

and "lead" of graphite—were invented in

fixative, a form of varnish, can be used

France in 1794 by Nicolas-Jaques Conte. He

to hold a drawn surface in place. It is

discovered that milled graphite mixed with

applied as a fine mist from an aerosol can,

clay and water, press-molded, and baked to

or from a bottle using a diffuser. For the

a high temperature produces a harder and

beginner, ordinary hairspray is an effective

paler medium than graphite alone.

and cheaper alternative.

USING GRAPHITE This drawing illustrates a range of achieved with graphite pencils of different grades.

3B pencil A range of mark and textures can be achieved with a 3B pencil when you vary its pressure, speed, and direction, as this detail shows.

MATERIALS Here is a selection of 14 items to illustrate a basic range of pencils, graphite sticks, sharpeners, erasers, and fixative. 1. AND 2. HB AND 3B PENCILS: It is unnecessary to possess every grade of pencil. HB, the central and most common grade, is perfect for making delicate lines. 3B gives a blacker tone. A great variety of effects can be achieved with just these two. 3. WATER-SOLUBLE PENCIL Effective for atmospheric drawing, but be aware of how watery tones can dull the impact of the line.

4. AND 5. MECHANICAL PENCIL Thick or fine leads are made in a range of grades. They are particularly useful because they do not require a sharpener 6. ROUND SOLID GRAPHITE PENCIL: Excellent for large-scale drawing, producing thick bold lines. A range of grades can be honed with a craft knife or sharpener 7. THICK GRAPHITE STICK: For large-scale drawing. Graded soft, medium, and hard. It crushes to produce graphite powder 8. SQUARE GRAPHITE STICK: Useful for making broad, sweeping marks in large-scale drawing. If worn and rounded, the stick can be snapped into pieces to regain the sharp, square end. 9. CRAFT KNIFE AND BLADES: Handles are sold in two sizes to fit large or small blades, and blades are sold in a range of shapes. Perfect for sharpening pencils to a long point, to cut lines in paper or to remove areas. 10. PENCIL SHARPENER: Makes a uniform point. Keep one in your pocket for drawing outside the studio, together with an envelope for shavings.

HB and 5B Layers of tone have been built up withHBand5Bpencils. Softer pencils require less pressure to make a mark, revealing the texture of the paper surface. It is important to keep the point of the pencil sharp with either a craft knife or a sharpener.

55

s o f t e n lines, o r t o r e m o v e altogether. Fixative

them

prevents

s m u d g i n g a n d s e c u r e s lines.

Using fixative You can use fixative while drawing to hold the definition of lines you wish to gently fade but not remove entirely, for which you would use an eraser.

11. P L A S T I C E R A S E R : Avoid cheap colored erasers that may stain drawings with grease and dye. White brands are available in soft and hard versions.

12.

P U T T Y RUBBER:

W a r m it in your hand before use. It is excellent for removing powdery materials, and for making crisp sweeps of light across a delicate pencil drawing

13. D I F F U S E R : Helleborus

corsicus

(Corsican hellebore)

fixative, or to spray mists of ink.

GRAPHITE AND ERASERS

ERASING AND FIXING Erasers can be used t o blend and

PLANTS AND GARDENS

56

Cropping and Composition M A N Y STUDENTS WILL START a d r a w i n g i n t h e m i d d l e o f t h e

that its skin nearly touches the boundary. The meaning of the

paper. Focused on the shape and detail of their subject, they

same drawing changes simply by its relationship to the space

remain happily unaware that there is, or should be, any

it occupies. The size of any subject, its placement on the

relationship between what they are drawing and the surface

page, the size of the page, and its overall proportion are all

they are drawing it on. The paper is only paper, and the

discrete and essential aspects of successful picture-making.

troublesome subject floats somewhere in the expanse of it.

Before you begin to draw, think carefully about where to

However, a single fig drawn in the middle of a large,

place your subject. Are you are happy with your paper? If not,

empty square of paper gives quite a different impression

change it; add more, take some away, or turn it around. Do

from the same fig drawn on such an intimately small square

not just accept what you are given, adapt it to what you need.

CHOOSING A VIEW

A Single Fig

"The size, shape, and orientation of the paper are so integral to the composition that they determine the impact and meaning of the drawing."

57

T h e s e pencil drawings o f figs d e m o n s t r a t e different crops and compositions. A card with a small rectangle cut out o f it makes a useful viewfinder C l o s e o n e e y e t o look through the hole, t h e n m o v e t h e c a r d t o e x p l o r e different views. U s e it as a starting point, a device to help you decide what t o draw.

Off-center and diagonal

Here I held my viewfinder so the fig appeared upper-left in the space, its stem and shadow framing a white center. The angle of the fruit together with dark shadow (top left) and bright light(bottom right) suggest a diagonal division across the whole drawing, running corner t o corner, bottom-left t o top-right.

Touching the edge When

the subject o f a drawing touches one edge of the paper it attaches t o it visually. Here the left fig is attached to, and therefore apparently suspended from, the uppermost edge of the drawing. When subjects touch two or more edges, as also shown here, they establish a tension and unity with the paper.

Space as the subject

Inallpictures, spaces between things are as important as the things themselves. This drawing hasbeencropped to emphasize space between thefruit.O u r focus is on the white cloth supporting the figs, its illumination, and lines describing shadows cast by the fruit

CROPPING AND COMPOSITION

THE VIEWFINDER

PLANTS AND GARDENS

58

Negative Space UNCONSCIOUSLY WE ASSESS spatial relationships all the time

positive shape right; a foundation stone in picture-making.

to guide ourselves through the world. But how often do we

Unfamiliar shapes of negative space reveal the real shape of

look at the air between things; shapes of air cut out and

a positive subject. Looking at negative space overrides the

defined by the physicality of our environment? When we

problem of drawing what you know, rather than what you

look into the branches of a tree, do we see myriad distinct

see in front of you. It is an astonishingly simple device

and unique shapes of daylight or do we just see branches?

that many artists use and I strongly recommend.

Why as artists should we look at the air?

The drawing opposite is of the uppermost leaves of

Every space in a picture has a shape, position, tone, and

a potted fig tree. In following this class, you will need a

a role to play. Viewers appreciating a finished image may

similar large-leaved plant, a sharp H B pencil, an eraser,

not see shapes of space, but if the artist does, their subject

and a fresh page in your drawing book. Remember that

and composition will become more real, unified, dynamic,

plants do move! Therefore it is best to complete your

and engaging. Negative space is the simple key to getting

drawing in one sitting if possible.

WHERE TO START Arrange your plant and paper so you can look back and forth by barely moving your head; this ensures a consistent view.The box opposite isolates an area, which is shown in the three steps below. Follow these from left to right and see how I began with one complete shape between two parts of a leaf, erasing and adjusting lines until itlooked right, then added a second shape, third, fourth, and so on. In your own version, remember to draw only space, not leaves. It helps to start at the center and map outward.

Draw a complete shape

Map outward from the center

Erase and adjust lines until correct

59

Here I drew only spaces, adding one to another until the leaves were revealed. Besides looking at negative space, there are two other useful things to do when a drawing feels wrong but you cannot see why: look at it in a mirror or turn it upside down. errors and suggest changes.

NEGATIVE SPACE

Spaces between leaves

Either view will

Fig Tree WALKING IN THE ALPUJARRAS in A n d a l u c i a ,

Spain, I drew a bare fig tree clinging to the wall of an almond grove; a perfect subject for seeing negative space. I marked its essential frame of large branches first, frequently erasing lines and changing my mind until the balance felt right.

Summer Flowers

S a l v i a , RIBES, CLEMATIS, Allium, Passiflora, and Acanthus

Alchemilla,

drawn with an H pencil by observing the

negative spaces between the stems, petals, and leaves. I arranged the flowers on a sheet of paper in a cool r o o m and rapidly sketched a composition. Then I put them in water, taking the stems out one at a time to draw.

Acanthus Spinosus As we LOOK AROUND, our eyes travel and adjust from one point of focus to another, gathering less distinct information on the way. We never see everything at once. If an artist changes the pace of their line and focus of their attention, interfolding points of detail with areas of loose suggestion, they emulate our experience of seeing. Excessive detail leaves no space for the eye to rest or imagination to wander. Compare changes of pace and focus here to the flatter finish of Summer Flowers (see pp. 62-63).

Architecture I

N THE

CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES

of architecture, film-set design, and computer game

imaging, we find the most recent steps in the evolution of graphic language. Computer

programs allow the virtual drawing of ideas. Through the animation of the screen, architects and designers can imaginatively "climb inside" three-dimensional space and. once there, add and subtract ideas, drawing plans around themselves within a program as opposed to on a flat sheet of paper. Architects have been fine-tuning their specialized branch of drawing for centuries. Besides sketches of first thoughts and polished drawings of the finished look for clients, they also have a diagrammatic language for communicating plans to builders. At the core of their practice, to help them create new form, they have the Golden Section. It was the mathematicians, philosophers, and architects of ancient Greece who first pursued the formula for "divine proportion," reflecting the eye's love of unity in difference. This harmony, which can be clearly seen in ancient Greek architecture, was preserved into the Renaissance where it became a foundation stone for thinking and creativity From 15thcentury Italy, the formula for perfection spread through Europe, and in the 19th century it was given the name the Golden Section. It was also during the Renaissance that the architect Brunelleschi invented linear perspective, the device that has since governed most of our picture-making (sec pp. 74-75). Since the first flowering of Modernism in the early 20th century, architects, designers, VICTOR BALTARD French architect employed by the city of Paris, Baltard designed the Church of St. Augustin, which was the first church in the capital to be built entirely of metal and then clad in stone.This is a pencil drawing, with gray and brown watercolor wash, of the west facade of St Augustin, made by the architect himself.The church is still in use today.

composers, filmmakers, fine artists, and writers have been breaking away from traditional forms of representation to seek new expressions of shape, mass, balance, space, time, and sound. Since Picasso and Braque's revolution of Cubism in around 1907. European conventions of pictorial perspective have lost their monopoly on seeing. Yet the pursuit of divine proportion and harmony remains. Perhaps in the sheer planes of some of our greatest modern buildings it is finding its clearest expression. Among the drawings of this chapter we look from 17th-century ecclesiastical calm. to 20th-century film fantasy; from political commentary to musical abstraction; and from

West Facade of the Church of St Augustin, Paris 1871-74

VICTOR BALTARD

the child's view to the infinity of the vanishing point. Linear perspective is a marvelous device, invaluable to understand and apply when you choose. It is the focus of practical class in this chapter, coupled with the importance of exercizing your imagination.

each

ARCHITECTURE

68

Master Builders EVERY NEW BUILDING, embodying a massive investment of

Hawksmoor's drawing is both a plan and an evocation. Lines

ideas, materials, and labor, marks the end of a long journey

define structure while washes suggest light and atmosphere.

from the first few marks the architect made on a sheet of

Gaudi's fluid architecture grew up through many kinds of

paper. Drawings underpin every great human-made structure

drawing. The photograph opposite shows his studio hung

like hidden linear ghosts at their core. Architects draw for

with metal pendulums, a three-dimensional drawing made

many reasons: to visualize ideas; evoke presence; describe a

with wires and weights, testing gravity to calculate the inverted

finished look to a client; calculate function, structure, and

shapes of domes. Below it, densely layered lines in mists of

balance; and ultimately to show builders what to do.

color weave the presence of the expected building into shape. NICHOLAS HAWKSMOOR One of Britain's "three great" Baroque architects (along with Sir Christopher Wren and Sir John Vanbrugh). Hawksmoor established his reputation with university and church architecture including All Souls College, Oxford, and six London churches. A student of Wren's, and later an assistant to Vanbrugh, he also worked on St Paul's Cathedral, Hampton Court Palace, Blenheim Palace, and Castle Howard.

Three aspects This subtle and sophisticated drawing made in pen and wash displays three distinct aspects of Hawksmoor's

baptistry.

Together they explain how interior structure and space define exterior form and shape.

Finished surface

On the left the finished

surface of the building is given depth and emphasis by immaculate vertical and horizontal brush strokes of shadow. We see the modeled detail of Corinthian columns, pilasters, and an inscribed entablature.

Cut-away interior

On the right a section

cut through the center of the building reveals material thicknesses, relative levels, and the shapes of interior domes and apses.

Pillars and floor At the base of the drawing a compass-drawn

plan tilted downward

through 90 degrees illustrates the arrangement of pillars around a central circular floor.

St Paul's Baptistry c. 1711-12 NICHOLAS HAWKSMOOR

69 Wire Sculpture of Guell Crypt c. 1900

ANTONIO

GAUDI

ANTONIO GAUDI Visionary Catalan architect. Gaudi's cathedral in Barcelona, churches, and apartment homes are distinguished by their Their and

unique organic manipulation of high

shapes, light, embellishment.

Flowering curves of stone or concrete are often encrusted with Gaudi was inspired by medieval and oriental art, The Art Nouveau movement, and

Wire and watercolor three-dimensional

Above is a drawing

made

withlinkedwires and weights. Gaudi preferred to calculate

form in the

air than on paper. To the right isawatercolordrawing thought to havebeenmade over a photograph ofthemodelabove. This sculptural drawingenvisionsthe finished crypt glowingandethereal as if caught in thelightof red morning sun.

Guell

Crypt of its

at the

Time

Construction

c. 1910 24x181/4( 6 1 0 x 4 7 5mm) A N T O N I O GAUDI

his

love of

music.

ARCHITECTURE

70

The Order of Sound B O T H OF THESE VISIONARY DRAWINGS o c c u p y a s l e n d e r ,

been a natural affinity between the visual rhythms of

upright pictorial space. The architect and musician Daniel

pictures and the audible rhythms of music. We can see, and

Libeskind has drawn a stampeding cacophany of airborne

in a sense hear, such a rapport in both of these drawings.

architectural detail, while the composer Erik Satie has made

Libeskind begins quietly in the upper space of his drawing,

an enclosure of quiet order and grace. Both men used rulers

before cascading into a riot of line and sound below. Satie

and pens to carefully and slowly construct their compositions.

draws quietly throughout, and the spaces between his

Contemporary musicians commonly collaborate with

windows and turrets are the visual equivalent of pauses in

artists by interpreting images as sound. There has always

h i s m u s i c c o m p o s i t i o n s for p i a n o (see also Bussotti,

p.223).

DANIEL LIBESKIND A Polish American architect of international acclaim. Libeskind's numerous commissions include concert halls and museums. He also produces urban and landscape designs, theater sets, installations, and exhibitions of his drawings. Libeskind studied music before transferring to architecture. He also contributed to plans for the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site in New York.

Floor plan

This drawing has

been made with a rapidograph, a refillable pen that feeds a constant supply of ink through a fine tubular nib. Across the top and center right of the image w e perceive an almost recognizable architectural

plan.

Floor space appears divided by discernible walls, corridors, and rooms, and arched dotted lines depict the radius of doors.

Visual rhythms In the lower half of this drawing architectural language has broken loose: escaped and transformed into an image of rebellious pleasure. We can imagine how a musician might interpret this drawing by looking at the abstract visual rhythms of masses composed of long straight poles, short curved poles, flat boards, and dotted lines.

Arctic Flowers 1980 DANIEL LIBESKIND

ERIK SATIE F r e n c h pianist and c o m p o s e r for t h e piano, theater, a n d ballet. Satie collaborated w i t h hisfriends J e a n C o c t e a u a n d P i c a s s o .H i s witty, minimalist s c o r e s scandalized a u d i e n c e s with o r c h e s t r a t i o n s f o r t h e foghorn

and typewriter.

H e p e r f o r m e d in cabarets, dressed eccentrically, lived a l o n e , and founded his o w n church, o f which he was the sole m e m b e r

Parcel paper

Satie has drawn

this fantasy hotel using a ruler, a conventional dip or fountain pen, and ink on a fragment folded brown paper—a of everyday happened

material

of scrap

that

to be at hand.

Eastern influence

The

upright

pictorial space and subject of this image

is reminiscent

Eastern drawing.

Compare

and medieval

of

Middle

European

the even and

elegantly stylized order of the many windows of

and the

shape

the perimeter

wall to the

arrangement of details and the shape of the wall in Babur's Garden of Fidelity on p.50.

Composition Look how well this drawingfitsand resonates with the upright,narrowshape of its paper. Onpp.56—57 we discussed important the shape,

how

orientation,

andfouredges of the paper

are

tothecompositionand impact

of

animage.Edges are

effectively

additional lines in a work. They definespaceand pictorial balance.

Hotel

de la

Suzonnieres c. 1 8 9 3 77/8

x

ERIK SATIE

51/2 in ( 2 0 0 x 1 4 0

mm)

ARCHITECTURE

72

Future Fictions

T H E S E T H R E E HIGHLY DETAILED DRAWINGS

invite us to

soaring above normal life. Art director Erich Kettlehut's

enter the long-shadowed architecture of imaginary worlds.

vertiginous design for the city of a slavelike populace

Boullee's monolithic apparition was drawn as a monument

had a future influence on movies such as Blade

to Sir Isaac Newton. Within it, antlike mortals might have

Runner.

Paul Nobles epic drawing summons an imperfect and

speculated upon the universe. This is the work of an

disturbing township where ruin and activity are equal

architectural theoretician; the ominous globe exists only as

and strange. We glide over exquisitely drawn wastelands

a series of drawings. Among preparations for Fritz Langs

of damage and abandonment, experiencing a fascinating

film Metropolis, made in 1926, we find other Utopian visions

conflict between curiosity and desolation.

ETIENNE-LOUIS BOULLEE

Light illusions This pen-and-wash drawing

French architectural theorist,

shows a subtle application of the principles

painter; and draftsman. Boullee lived

of illumination demonstrated with an egg on

in Paris, and taught at t h e A c a d e m i e

p.96.The lower-left section of the building

d'Architecture. His celebrated imaginary

appears relatively pale against a darker

buildings are characterized by pyramids,

sky, and the reverse is true on the right.

1784

spheres, arched vaults, cylinders, and

This shift makes the cenotaph appear

153/4 x 25 in ( 4 0 2 x 635 m m )

dramatic lighting.

three-dimensional.

ETIENNE-LOUIS BOULLEE

Newton's Cenotaph

73

Brush and ink This is a dramatic drawing from a film that shaped the history of world cinema. Kettlehut drew using a fine and relatively dry brush dipped in black, gray, and white ink on brown-gray paper. Working on toned paper such as this gives an artist greater scope for dramatic lighting effects than if they work on white paper.

Fritz Lang's Metropolis c. 1926

ERICH KETTLEHUT

PAUL N O B L E British c o n t e m p o r a r y artist who creates m o n u m e n t a l , intensely detailed graphite drawings explaining and questioning t h e geography, architecture, mythology, and morality o f an invented place called His satires exhibited w o r l d w i d e .

Graphite shapes Nobson Central isoneof a series of very large graphite drawings of the spoil and detritus of Nobson Newtown. Its sheerscaleengulfs the viewer and demands

time and patience to

beread.Building shapes are based

on letters and in some

works can be read as text.

Nobson Central

9

1998-99

ft 1 0 in x 1 3 f t 2 in (3 x 4 m ) PAUL N O B L E

Nobson political visions of humanity

Newtown. and are

FUTURE FICTIONS

ERICH KETTLEHUT Influential film a r t director; draftsman, and m o d e l - m a k e r In t h e p r e p a r a t i o n o f Metropolis, Kettlehut and his c o - a r t director O t t o Hunte, together with c i n e m a t o g r a p h e r Karl Freund, used forced perspective camera t e c h n i q u e s t o amplify t h e m a g n i t u d e o f buildings in relation t o human characters.

ARCHITECTURE

74

Pathways of Sight LINEAR PERSPECTIVE (also called vanishing-point perspective)

children. It is also distinguished from aerial perspective (see

is a simple device for calculating the relative size of things in

pp. 206-07).

All forms of perspective are of equal value.

pictorial space. We use it to structure illusions of depth. It

Here Leonardo provides a superb example of a single

can be applied to any subject, but is most easily seen and

vanishing point. Piranesi an example of two, and age eight,

understood in pictures of buildings and interiors. Invented by

I contribute the child's perspective. Sometimes shared with

Italian artist and architect Brunelleschi in 1413 (late in the

Naive artists, this perspective is often an imagined bird's-eye

history of art), linear perspective is distinct from more ancient

view in which details are mapped according to logic and

systems practiced in the East, and those of Naive artists and

importance rather than how they might appear in real life.

LEONARDO DA VINCI One of the greatest artists, scientists, inventors, and thinkers ever to have lived. In his notebooks, Leonardo recorded constant streams of ideas, observations, and inventions— essential reading for inquiring minds.

Single-point perspective Tie a thread to a pin. Press the pin into Leonardo's

Study of Perspective

vanishing point, found at the center of all converging lines. Pull the thread

Adoration

taut and rotate it slowly above the drawing. See how the thread corresponds

1481 61/2 x111/2in (165 x 290 mm)

to each converging line. Note how architectural features conform to lines and how human figures diminish in size toward thevanishingpoint.

of the

for the

Magi

LEONARDO DA VINCI

SARAH SIMBLET I made this drawing (at age 8) in response to a local bookstore's request for children to draw their village. It shows how children usually map large scenes in flat layers one above the other, including all they recall about the subject. Children are uninhibited and problems with one element being obscured by another rarely arise.

Scale Our farmhouse my experience

was in the woods. This drawing

and understanding

logical narrative of memories.

maps

of the nearby village; a

Young children typically

issues of scale when making room for important

ignore

points in

their story. Note the rather large rabbits and pheasants

on

the hills, which I saw from home every day.

Breamore Village, New Forest, England 1980 9 x 16 in (228 x 405 mm) S A R A H SIMBLET

GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI Italian artist, architect, and designer Piranesi's prolific architectural drawings, visionary and practical understanding of ancient Rome, and theoretical writing strongly influenced neoclassicism.

Two-point perspective Sunlight through this colonnade a great example

of two-point perspective.

illuminates

Lightly marked

vanishing

Two Courtyards

points are located on either side of the drawing, at the top of each

c. 1740

lateral column base. Mark

5 1 / 2 x 83/8 in (141 x 212 mm) G I O V A N N I B A T T I S T A PIRANESI

these points with your pin and follow

the converging lines of the drawing by rotating your thread.

ARCHITECTURE

76

Single-Point Perspective MASTERING LINEAR PERSPECTIVE i s e a s i e r t h a n y o u m a y

First read through, then follow the ten steps below, using a

imagine. On the previous page we looked at its essential

sharp HB pencil and ruler. Draw each step over the preceding

mechanism through drawings by Leonardo and Piranesi.

one to build up a single image. This lesson shows you how

Study these pages first before embarking on this lesson.

to make a simple illusion of space defined by two boxes and

Leonardo began with a grid of many lines within which he

three flat boards, corresponding to a single vanishing point.

invented his scene, discovering the image as it progressed.

Next, try composing your own space. Note that if you place

In contrast, Piranesi planned his drawing with only the

large structures in the foreground and smaller ones closer to

essential lines needed. This is where we will begin.

your vanishing point, you will amplify the illusion of distance.

DRAWING BOXES

1

Using a ruler and a sharp HB pencil, draw a horizon line across your paper Mark a spot on the horizon line; this is your vanishing point. Surround the vanishing point with a small rectangle.

3

corners must each touch a dotted line. This ensures that the second rectangle aligns with the shape and

2

Draw four dotted lines radiating out from the vanishing point. Each line should pass through one corner of the rectangle. Extend each dotted line to the edge of your drawing.

Draw four short lines to connect the four corners of the two rectangles. Erase the dotted construction lines. You have completed your first box. (See p.98 for an important note on oscillation.)

4

77

Draw a new rectangle. Note that this does not surround the vanishing point In the future, when inventing your own compositions, you can place rectangles anywhere youwishin relation to a vanishing point.

6

As in step 3, draw a second, larger rectangle. The four comers must each touch a dotted line to be sureitaligns with the first. The larger you make your second rectangle, the closer it will appear to the viewer.

8

7

Use dotted lines connecting the slanting linetothe vanishing point to locate the top, bottom, andfarside of this first board. The board's sides should be parallel. Repeat this to add two more boards to the composition.

9

As in step 2, draw four dotted lines radiating from your vanishing point Pass these through each comer of the new rectangle. Continue the dotted lines out toward the edge of your drawing.

Complete the second box with short lines as in step 4, and erase the dotted lines. N e x t draw a slanting line to mark the height of the first flat board. Connect this to the vanishing point— again, with two dotted lines.

1

0 Erase all ofthedottedlinestoseeyourfinishedboxes

Thickeningtheiredges,asIhavedonehere,willhelptomake them appear more solid.

SINGLE-POINT PERSPECTIVE

5

ARCHITECTURE

78

Creating an Imaginary Space T H I S CLASS USES SINGLE-POINT PERSPECTIVE t o c r e a t e a s i m p l e

to you and if you listen to it, it will take you places you never

imaginary room. It highlights the importance of having faith

dreamed of; it is

in your imagination and trusting your ability to invent. The

interaction that makes the work

richer."

In this class, let simple lines suggest a simple space, then

m i s t a k e n belief that we s h o u l d k n o w exactly what o u r

let the space suggest its c o n t e n t s and purpose. Linear

finished drawings will l o o k like before we m a k e t h e m

perspective will support y o u by providing a frame in which

prevents many people from ever starting. As David Lynch,

to b u i l d your picture

artist and film director, once said: "I never end up with what

a fresh page in your d r a w i n g b o o k , draw a b o x as shown

I set out to do, w h e t h e r it is a film or a painting. I always

opposite. Then follow the three given steps. If using a fiber-

start with a script but I don't follow it all the way through to

tip pen as I have done for this drawing, you will find white

the end. A lot more happens when you open yourself up to

adhesive stationery labels are useful for covering errors or

the work and let yourself act and react to it. Every work talks

changing the direction of your idea.

as it did for Leonardo, p . 7 4 ) . O n

APPLYING PERSPECTIVE

An Imagined Scaffold

"Enjoy your illusion as you make it and it will become more real."

79

CREATING AN IMAGINARY SPACE

DRAWING A SIMPLE ROOM Essentials t o remember: objects and people dimmish in size as they move farther away; parallel planes such as walls converge toward the vanishing point; and floors and ceilings also converge and rise o r lower toward the horizon.

1First,drawthevanishing horizonline andAddanarray of point. converging lines to provide a "scaffold" for vertical, horizontal, and leaning surfaces. This initial space will be transparent and open to change.

2 first before adding furniture. Here, additional lines have established the different surfaces and how they relate to each other. The space has become more solid and real.

3

Remove the construction lines with an eraser and the room will becomeclearer.There is great pleasure tobefoundin spending time inventing interiors. With some practice, you will beableto draw more complex objects orpeoplewithin them.

ARCHITECTURE

80

Further Aspects of Perspective W E ARE ACCUSTOMED TO SEEING our e n v i r o n m e n t from a

y o u might employ t h r e e - p o i n t perspective ( s h o w n

relatively constant point of view. From our normal eye level,

opposite top). Further aspects of three-point perspective

verticals appear p e r p e n d i c u l a r to the g r o u n d , a n d this is

are also illustrated opposite, showing y o u h o w to draw

how we have drawn them so far (see pp. 76-79).

Only when

curved surfaces and a tiled floor. It is important to realize

our eye level is very high and we look down, or low and we

that you can have as many vanishing points as you wish,

look u p , do verticals appear inclined. T h i n k of standing at

located anywhere inside or outside the pictorial space.

the top of a skyscraper and imagine h o w its parallel sides

T h e y d o n o t have to relate to each other, o r to the

would appear to converge below you. To draw such a view

h o r i z o n . T h i s is d e m o n s t r a t e d immediately below.

APPLICATION Copy these drawings to see and feel how they work before inventing your own versions. Search for the application of these perspectives among works by other artists in this book and in galleries. Copying what you see in the work of others will help you to understand what they have done.

Free vanishing points

Vanishing points are commonly found on horizon—our eye level. That is where we e to find them, but they are not confined to this level. Potentially, they can be placed anywhere inspaceto describe the perspective of flyi c tilted objects. The boxes drawn here are seen partly or entirely disassociated from a horizon line drawn across the bottom of the image.

Elaborations

On paper we can enjoy the freedom of fantastic structural invention without limitations of solid materials or gravity. Here, I have elaborated on the simple boxes above. These elaborations could continue indefinitely across a sheet of paper in pursuit of complex and intricate ideas. They could be drawn on any scale from miniature to monumental.

81 FURTHER ASPECTS OF

Three-point towers

PERSPECTIVE

This drawing depicts three-point perspective, useful for representing steep views looking up or down tall structures. (Turn the book around to see a view looking up.) By comparing this drawing t o Piranesi's example of two-point perspective on p.75, you will see how, by adding a third point you can achieve a sense of incline.

Three-point curves Here, three vanishing points are evenly spaced along a horizon line. An array of curved lines (drawn freehand) link the two lateral points. Iusedthese lines as a guide t o draw the curvature of boxes and panels flying through space. Giving curvature, and therefore tension, tostraightlines can amplify drama in a picture.

Three-point

checkered floor This

bottom

floor.Istarted with two parallel lines. I marked the toplinewith three evenly spaced points and the line with seven. I then drew three fanned groups of lines connecting each of the three points above to the seven points below. Where thelinescross, they mark the corners of the floor tiles.Finally,I added horizontal lines t o define the tiles. Note that altering the distance between the three dots above will tilt the level of the floor

d

Theaters RESEARCHING FOR MY P H D , I

visited many anatomical

theaters and museums, making drawings to resolve questions and express personal responses to the nature and history of anatomy. These walnut-skin ink pen and brush drawings show imagined views of theaters that do not exist but were inspired by places I studied.

Venetian Life

ThisP E N - A N D - I N KDRAWING is one of a series I made while sitting point the water. buildings

next to the Rialto Bridge in Venice. The vanishing of the drawing is directly opposite as we look across The constancy of the bridge and surrounding frames the movement in the life that flows past.

Objects and Instruments T

HE THINGS WE INVENT describe our lives. C o m m o n items, from s p o o n s and pens to chairs and bicycles, are all made bearing the signature of our time and place.

History will be learned from the artifacts w e leave behind. Engineers and designers of our objects and instruments make drawings for many reasons: to test an idea that is yet to be made, for example, to record an observed detail, or to explain and present a finished concept to a client. T h e Industrial Revolution c h a n g e d the traditional w a y s in w h i c h objects were designed, planned, and made. Previously, craftsmen had held plans in their memory, passing them on to others through the act of making. With the sudden onset of mass production, drawings were needed to instruct workers on the factory floor. Technical drawing was speedily developed as a meticulous international code of m e a s u r e m e n t and explanation. T h e precision of engineering d r a w i n g s e v o l v e d alongside machine tools, each demanding more of the other as they increased in sophistication. It was in this era that the blueprint was born. Today, even more advanced drawings are made on computers. Birds follow instinct to make a nest, and some apes use simple tools, but humans are the only creatures on Earth w h o actually design and create great ranges of things.

LEONARDO DA VINCI Inthisbeautiful red chalk Our items all have a purpose—practical or ornamental—and all have a meaning, or drawing w e see Leonardo daVinci'sprecision as can a be given meaning. Artists and actors use the meanings of things to communicate speculative mechanic. H e has described a casting through metaphor. A chair, for example—whether, drawn, sculpted, or used on stage hood for a mold t o make theheado f a horse f oas r a p r o p — i m b u e d with e n o u g h energy or character can "become" a man. an equestrian statue. It is shaped in sections w i t h Artists have for centuries studied and expressed composition, design, color, hooked bars that can be pulled and tied closely form, texture, and the behavior of light through making still-life paintings and together. H e has described contour and function at drawings. In past eras, these, too, have often carried great weights of allegorical once, making a clear instruction t o his bronzemeaning. Artists also make images of objects that can never exist; fictional realities caster of h o w t o make it andhowit will w o r k . that test our logic with a sense of mystery. In this chapter, we look at the importance

of light in the creation of pictorial illusions, and the way in w h i c h the brain reacts Head and Neck

Sections

of Female Mold for the

to visual stimulus and optical illusions. W e also explore v o l u m e and form in the

Sforza Horse

drawing c. 1493 117/8c81/4in (300 x 210 m m ) LEONARDO D A V I N Ccreating I

classes by spinning lines to make vessels, illuminating snail shells, and a wire violin.

OBJECTS AND INSTRUMENTS

90

Still Life THESE DRAWINGS REVEAL t w o o p p o s i t e m o t i v a t i o n s i n

we can. still feel this projected moment. Opposite, Mucha's

representing still life. Below, Braques image is a Cubist

drawing glistens with possession, not of place but of things;

collage. One of the great joys of this movement in art is the

perfect i n their newly made availability. There is a fragile

musicality of its multipoint view. Braques "justly" arranged

eloquence to these objects as they drift in slow motion past

combination of cut black card, wood-look wallpaper,

our gaze. T h i s is a designers drawing made to enthuse

charcoal, and a journal jacket with words makes this drawing

surface and style in its delicate brushing of china, silverware,

chatter about the moment. He takes us into the bustle of the

and glass objects of exquisite elegance for only the gentlest

Paris cafe, steaming with music and conversation. Even today

of touch and appreciation.

GEORGES BRAQUE French painter who as a young man was influenced by the work of the Fauves and of Cezanne. Braque established Cubism in partnership with Picasso just before World War I. His work is characterized by calm and harmonious still-life compositions.

Clashes The art historian Ernst Gombrich said of Cubism, "I believe [it] is the most radicalattempttostampout ambiguity and to enforce one readingofthepicture—that

La Cuitare, Statue

of a manmade construction, a colored canvas. ...Braque

1913 2 f t 5 in x 3 ft 5 in (0.73 x 1 m)

marshals all the forces of perspective, texture, and shading, not to work in harmony, but to clash in virtual deadlock."

D'Epouvante

GEORGES BRAQUE

ALPHONSE MUCHA Czech graphic artist and painter who worked in Prague. Pans. Chicago, and New York. For ten years Mucha designed theater posters exclusively for the actress Sarah Bernhardt. He designed the Austrian pavilion for the Paris World Fair in 1900. and also stamps and bank notes. He is best known for posters featuring ethereal women in typical Art Nouveau style.

Art Nouveau motifs This is a preliminary study for a subsequent print.

Art Nouveau curling motifs of

birds,fruit,flowers, and fish have been outlined using a sharp pencil. The three plates facing us were drawn with a compass.

Black

watercolor washes and lines of white gouache have been added with a fine

brush.

Background color Between the delicate shadows and highlights of these glazed and surfaces

metal

we see a large amount

ofthebackground

color of the

paper. Look at the two spoons at toprightand see how

Mucha

has suggested that they are so brilliantly shiny they reflect the background

color.

Study for Plate 59 from "Documents Decoratifs" 1902

17x121/4(430 x 310 mm) ALPHONSE MUCHA

OBJECTS AND INSTRUMENTS

92

Instruments of Vision

SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS by their very nature must gauge

found among his letters. It is a diagrammatic explanation

or chronicle precision. Their delicate construction is only

of how to catch and magnify a star in a mirrored tube.

as valuable as the measurements they make. In the graphic

Hooke's head of a drone fly seen through a microscope

work of these two great men of science, we see drawing

may represent the first time man and insect came face to

shape the very cause and effect of investigatory thought.

face. The power of this drawing reflects the pure passion

From the concept of capturing the infinite to the mapping

of discovery. He counted 1 4 , 0 0 0 perfect hemispheres,

of microscopic sight, drawing is there to pin the moment

each reflecting a view of his own world—his window,

down. Newton's drawing of his first reflecting telescope is

a tree outside, and his hand moving across the light.

ISAAC N E W T O N English scientist, alchemist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher Newton was President of the Royal Society, and Fellow of the University o f C a m b r i d g e , w h e r e he developed his three greatest theories: the law o f motion, the law o f gravity, and the nature o f light and color.

Transparent view Newton's reflecting telescope focused light in a parabolic mirror. It was then reflected up inside the tube and. via a second mirror, into the eyepiece. With dotted lines Newton has drawn his arrangement of elements inside the tube, offering a transparent view. A disembodied eye at the top of the drawing indicates where to look.

Ink lines Several drawings appear among Newton's letters, each one skillfully rendered with the alarmingly matter-of-fact ease of explaining the commonplace. Look how confidently he draws with ink the sphere of this wooden globe by which his telescope rotates. Newton used this instrument to calculate the speed required to escape earth's gravity.

Newton's

Telescope

1672 ISAAC

NEWTON

ROBERT H O O K E

An experimental scientist who drew many of his discoveries. Hooke invented the camera diaphragm, universal joint a prototype respirator clock balance, and anchor escarpment, and calculated the theory of combustion.

93 Magnifications This acutely detailed engraved drawing

is taken from Hooke's Micrographia (pub. 1665), a breathtaking book containing many of his drawings showing some of the first microscopic and telescopic magnifications of our environment Hooke's text and illustrations carry us to the moment of discovery. It is an exhilarating read.

The Eye and Head of a Drone Fly

1665

111/2 x 105/8 in (294 x 270 mm)

ROBERT HOOKE

OBJECTS AND

INSTRUMENTS

94

Bench Marks

W H E N WE DRAW A COMMON OBJECT like a chair, its

W e are left a little c o n f u s e d as to what we s h o u l d

character, craft, and place in the world are truly seen. From

do, and w h e r e the chair b e l o n g s .

component parts we understand how to put it together and

W i t h h o m e y c o n t r a s t , Van Gogh's tipsy seat is a

make it stand sensible in space. Sarah Woodfines flat cut-out

metaphor for an absent person. Drawn in more-or-less

m o d e l plan is a witty and surprising drawing. A renegade

c o n v e n t i o n a l p e r s p e c t i v e , it has so m u c h familiar

from the p a p e r dolls' h o u s e , this chair p r e s e n t s us with a

personality that it seems to talk to us. Its wobbly gait

clever visual contradiction: deeply drawn shadows tell us it

and squashed s y m m e t r y m u m b l e endless h o m e y tales

must be solid, while the tabs make us see a flat paper cut-out.

about the life it has seen.

SARAH WOODFINE British contemporary artist graduate of the Royal Academy Schools, and winner of the 2004 Jerwood Drawing Prize. Woodfine exhibits internationally, has published several catalogs of her work, and has drawings in numerous public and private collections.

Two-dimensional was made

This highly finished

on smooth white drawing paper glistening dark drawings are artificial

drawing

using a sharp pencil and

representations

ruler

Woodfine's two-dimensional things

of known

in the world, each drawn with the s a m e unfaltering lines and tones that are between

reality and

balanced

impossibility.

Chair Cut Out 2002 22'A x 23 in (565 x 585 mm) SARAH WOODFINE

95

VINCENTVAN GOGH Dutch painter who produced over 800 paintings and 850 drawings in only the last ten year's of his life. Among van Gogh's best-known canvases are

Cornfield and

Trees,

Cypress

Sunflowers, and

Starry

Night. His passionate brush and pencil strokes are honest

and of also

what

direct in their he saw and describing his

felt, inner

recording while

turmoil and growing alarm at the world around him.

Fierce strokes This is a portrait of

a

meaningful chair, drawn

the mechanical

opposite way of flat

plan. Van

drew immediately and almost harshly;hehas marked the full emotion of the subject with a fierce

grip of concentration. The floor

is

few as engagement

with the chair.

Chair

1890 VINCENT

VAN

GOGH

made present in only strokes and is subdued

not

to distract us from

O B J E C T S AND I N S T R U M E N T S

96

Light and Illusions SEEING IS MIRACULOUS. U p s i d e - d o w n patterns of light on

The outermost edge of our vision, less developed than the

our retinas, transmitted to the brain as chains of electrical

center, reads only m o v e m e n t a n d can often m a k e mistakes.

impulses, are translated into a world of space, atmosphere,

S o m e o n e passes our o p e n door, perhaps; w e turn our head

form, a n d m o v e m e n t . To interpret visual s t i m u l u s , o u r

but n o one w a s there. T h e slightest recognition is instantly

b r a i n s search for n a m e a b l e things, a n d are q u i c k to

matched to our wealth of experience a n d expectation, a n d

p r o p o s e ideas. We will even see things that d o not exist

we can be fooled. Here w e look briefly at our perception of

because minimal information suggests they are likely to be

light a n d darkness a n d our interpretation of diagrammatic

there. We only need small prompts; hence our recognition

illusions. Through these we can enjoy witnessing our o w n

of a cartoon face c o m p o s e d of three lines, a n d our ability

d e c e p t i o n a n d b a f f l e m e n t a n d u n d e r s t a n d certain factors

to see forms in c l o u d s or fire.

that are very useful in picture-making.

LIGHT AND SHADOW

W e learn to read light and shadow in our environment as indicators of solidity and depth of space. Artists emulate and manipulate this effect in their pictures. Before starting a tonal drawing of any subject, think about its illumination. Are you happy

with what you see? Does the light enhance the subject? Could you alter and improve it? On pp.102-03 deep shadows cast across shells make their form easier to perceive. Below, a lit photograph of an egg shows essential points to observe in tonal drawing.

The egg's darkest region is seen against a lighter background. The two tones meet without a division or outline between. The egg's lightest region is seen against a darker background. Run The bottom-left quarter of the egg

your eye around the circumference

lightens slightly toward its "edge"

of the egg. See how its "edge"

when seen against the darker

smoothly changes from light

shadow cast on the paper. The rim

against dark to dark against light.

of light on the egg is reflected light received from surrounding paper.

Below the bottom "edge" of the egg there is a rim of light reflected onto the paper by the underside of the egg.

Gray squares

The perceived tone of a black white, gray, or colored surface is never constant. Three factors change it: the amount of light it receives; the adjustment of our eyes (in growing accustomed to a level of light); and the proximity of contrasting tones. Here, two identical mid-gray squares are seen against black and paler gray squares. The small squares are identical in tone, but do not appear so. We perceive one to be lighter than theother.This effect is caused by the contrast of their surroundings.

Card experiment

To further examine changes in tone, try this experiment. On acloudyday, cards the same size, one blackandone white. Tape them to the glass. From across the room both will appear black card and fold and retapeitwith half sticking out. Adjust the angleofthe protruding part and again stepback.At one point you will catchenoughlight lighter than the white one.

cho can

gra

on

97 T h e s e optical illusions s h o w h o w lines o f identical length can b e m a d e t o l o o k quite different f r o m each o t h e r by t h e addition o r association o f o t h e r lines. T w o horizontal lines o f equal length are m a d e t o l o o k longer and shorter, respectively, by d i r e c t e d a r r o w s ( A ) . A n u p r i g h t line stands in t h e c e n t e r o f a h o r i z o n t a l line. B o t h are identical in length, b u t t h e u p r i g h t o n e l o o k s t a l l e r (B). S h o r t h o r i z o n t a l lines o f identical length are m a d e t o l o o k d i f f e r e n t by c o n v e r g i n g lines beside t h e m ( C ) .

w h i l e t h i n n e r lines recede. In a t o n a l d r a w i n g , l i g h t e r surfaces s t a n d f o r w a r d w h i l e d a r k e r s u r f a c e s recede. T h i s fundamental o p p o s i t e is a reason w h y l i n e a r a n d t o n a l d r a w i n g does not a l w a y s c o m b i n e w e l l in t h e s a m e i m a g e . T h e r e is n o obligation t o a d d b l o c k s o f t o n e t o a l i n e a r d r a w i n g . O f t e ndoingso w i l l s p o i l y o u r w o r k . If y o u w i s h t o m a k e a t o n a l drawing, start o u t w i t h one.

Tonal width T h e s e black a n d w h i t e bands are o f equal thickness o n e i t h e r side o f t h e i r central division. O b s e r v e h o w each white b a n d appears t h i c k e r t h a n its black c o u n t e r p a r t , In this t o n a l image w e read w h i t e as f a t t e r t h a n black.

Bending straight lines Linear distance These t w o jugs have b e e n d r a w n w i t h lines o f d i f f e r i n g thicknesses. T h e jug d r a w n w i t h a t h i n line appears f a r t h e r away t h a n t h e j u g d r a w n w i t h a t h i c k e r line. In this linear drawing w e read t h i c k as closer a n d t h i n as f a r t h e r away.

Seven parallel lines are m a d e t o tilt t o w a r d and away f r o m each o t h e r by n u m e r o u s s h o r t strokes crossing t h e m diagonally ( A ) . T w o relatively t h i c k parallel lines are m a d e t o b e n d away f r o m each o t h e r as t h e y pass in f r o n t o f an a r r a y o f c o n v e r g i n g f i n e lines ( B ) . Y o u m a y e x p e r i e n c e s o m e t h i n g similar h a p p e n i n g w h e n y o u m a k e s i n g l e - p o i n t p e r s p e c t i v e d r a w i n g s w i t h a large n u m b e r o f c o n v e r g i n g rays b e h i n d y o u r horizontals.

ILLUSIONS

Apparent lengths

In l i n e a r d r a w i n g s , t h i c k e r l i n e s a p p e a r t o stand forward.

LIGHT AND

LINE VERSUS TONE

O B J E C T S AND I N S T R U M E N T S

98

Further Illusions PSYCHOLOGISTS AND PHYSIOLOGISTS have studied optical

architects knew parallel upright lines appeared to bend

illusions for decades in pursuit of what they tell us about the

toward each other in the middle, and so calculated

brain. Yet many illusions, including some shown here, are still

precisely how much to fatten columns to make them

not agreeably understood. Artists make pictorial illusions

appear straight. Michelangelo, among others, perfected

when they paint or draw, and we learn to read the styles of

the acceleration of perspective (see pp.116-17)

diverse cultures and periods. Today we are bombarded with

painted figures look correct when viewed from below. In the

images but rarely have difficulty reading them.

1960's, Op(tical) artists, such as Bridget Riley, made paintings

Some artists use known optical illusions to make art; others adjust works to avoid their effects. Ancient Greek

to make

that depended upon the physical sensation of our brain's reaction to known optical illusions.

SEEING TWO OPTIONS Sometimes, w h e n drawing the outline o f a three-dimensional form, w e will find that in terms of the direction it faces, it oscillates between t w o possibilities. It is a curious fact that w e can never see both options at once; w e can only look f r o m one t o the o t h e r If an artist is not aware this can happen in their image, their picture could be ambiguous. A few suggestive marks will tip the decision one way o r the o t h e r

Closing the surface W h e n a t r a n s p a r e n t elliptical o b j e c t has b e e n d r a w n , such as t h e dish seen h e r e o n t h e left, it can oscillate b e t w e e n facing t o w a r d o r a w a y f r o m us, as s h o w n o n t h e right. C l o s i n g t h e surface o f t h e f o r m seals o u r d e c i s i o n as t o w h i c h w a y it faces.

Two ways of seeing T h i s is t h e b o x c r e a t e d in t h e f o u r t h step o n p.76. It is possible t o r e a d i t t w o ways: as a t r u n c a t e d r e c t a n g u l a r p y r a m i d seen d i r e c t l y f r o m a b o v e ; o r as a s l o p i n g - s i d e d r e c t a n g u l a r t r a y ( b o t h are illustrated far r i g h t )

"The brain is so eager to name a fragment we see that we need only a suggestion to grasp the whole. Artists can communicate much in few lines and the viewer will do the rest of the work."

99

F a m i l i a r i t y in r a n d o m s h a p e s T h e Rorschach test was established by t h e 1 9 t h - c e n t u r y Swiss psychologist H e r m a n n Rorschach. His highly d i s p u t e d and i m p r e c i s e science involves s h o w i n g u n p r e p a r e d p a t i e n t s t e n p a r t i c u l a r ink b l o t s a n d asking t h e m t o i n t e r p r e t w h a t t h e y see. T h e patient's answers are t h e n diagnosed as a psychological profile. T h e t e s t e x p l o r e s o u r n o r m a l d e t e r m i n a t i o n t o find things w e can n a m e a m o n g r a n d o m shapes. S o m e artists use ink blots t o p r o m p t t h e beginning o f an image. W e should r e m e m b e r t h a t o u r brains will always search f o r a p i c t u r e — i n ink blots, clouds, smoke, e t c . — a n d so t h e artist can create m u c h o u t o f an impression w i t h o u t overdescribing.

Seeing things that are n o t t h e r e H e r e o n t h e left, w e see t w o overlapping triangles: o n e outlined in black b e n e a t h a n o t h e r in solid w h i t e . N e i t h e r triangle exists, b u t w e believe w e see t h e m because e n o u g h f r a g m e n t a r y i n f o r m a t i o n is given f o r o u r brains t o c o n c l u d e t h e y are v e r y likely t h e r e . B e l o w is a b r i g h t n e s s c o n t r a s t illusion. C o u n t t h e n u m b e r o f d a r k spots y o u can see. This effect can o c c u r naturally w h e n looking at a b r i g h t l y lit w h i t e g r i d such as a w i n d o w f r a m e against t h e night sky.

P e r c e i v i n g a w h o l e i m a g e f r o m m i n i m a l lines T h i s is a w i d e l y r e p r o d u c e d visual j o k e a t t r i b u t e d t o t h e C a r r a c c i b r o t h e r s , 1 6 t h - c e n t u r y Italian painters. T h e y a r e o f t e n c r e d i t e d w i t h t h e invention o f t h e c o m i c c a r t o o n . This simple five-line d r a w i n g is o f a C a p u c h i n priest asleep in his pulpit. Minimal-line j o k e s such as this rely u p o n t h e c o n t e m p o r a r y v i e w e r ' s r e c o g n i t i o n o f t h e shapes. C o u p l e d w i t h t h e Rorschach b l o t above, this is a n o t h e r e x a m p l e o f t h e viewer's b r a i n b e i n g willing t o d o a large a m o u n t o f t h e w o r k in d e c i p h e r i n g a p i c t u r e . T h e s e e x a m p l e s illustrate h o w little is n e e d e d t o c o n v e y an image. M u c h can b e e x p r e s s e d in o n l y a f e w marks.

FURTHER ILLUSIONS

Impossible objects T h e s e clever configurations o f outlines and t o n a l surfaces convince us at a glance that we are seeing a solid three-dimensional triangle and a three-pronged fork. O n l y o n closer inspection we realize that t h e s e o b j e c t s are fooling us. Yet still w e try resolve t h e m . T h e a r t i s t M. C Escher u s e d this phenomenon t o great effect in his many p o p u l a r d r a w i n g s o f puzzles and impossible buildings.

OBJECTS AND INSTRUMENTS

100

How to Draw Ellipses

for example, (see p.90) takes a different

W E VISUALIZE CYLINDRICAL VESSELS, such as bowls and cups,

of seeing.

as essentially circular, since this is h o w w e experience them

view, describing many sides of an object simultaneously.

Cubism,

in e v e r y d a y use. However, w h e n seen at an angle, circles

Ellipse are best d r a w n quickly, smoothly, a n d in o n e

change into ellipses, and these narrow or widen depending

bold stroke, even if y o u r hand w o b b l e s a little at first. A

on the height of our view. To make a cylindrical object appear

wobbling but confident ellipse will still be more convincing

real in our pictorial space, w e use ellipses to give a sense of

than a slow, hesitant one that has edged its w a y nervously

perspective. Be aware, though, that this is o n l y o n e w a y

around the vessel's rim.

COMMON ERRORS W h e n drawing cylindrical objects in perspective, for example plates or bowls on a table, there are three common errors people stumble upon. I have drawn these for you here.

The first common error is to draw two pointed ellipses, giving the cylinder four corners, like a disposable plastic cup that has been crushed in your hand.

The second common error is to tilt the upper and lower ellipses at different angles, suggesting that the vessel is lopsided. I have exaggerated this error here.

WHERE TO START In the air above a spacious sheet of scrap paper; spin your hand in a relaxed circle. Watch the tip of your pen and see it draw an ellipse in the air Keep this movement going while gently lowering the pen onto the paper like the needle of a record player closing on the disc (only it is your lowering hand that spins, not the paper!) As the pen touches down, keep it spinning. Don't worry if it is uneven— just try again; you will achieve steadiness with practice. Cover a sheet of paper with spinning, springlike forms like those I have drawn below.

third common error is to draw upper and lover ellipses with different-sized apertures, as if the table surface slopes upward beneath the vessel, while its upper rim remains level.

101

HOW

DRAWING VESSELS Once you have mastered drawing free-hand springs, you can start to control your spinning ellipse to make a vessel.

TO DRAW E L L I P S E S A Single Vessel

One Inside Another

Grouped Together Finding Shape and Volume Draw an imagined vessel in one continuous spinning line. Draw quickly, working from top to bottom, enlarging and diminishing the ellipse to determine the overall shape and volume.

Seeing Through Allow lines to travel around each vessel as if it were transparent. Altering the pressure—and therefore tone—of the line as it spins gives the impression of light shining on one side.

Create a Solid Surface Once you have drawn the shape and volume of each form, you can make it solid by building up highlights and tones on visible surfaces, thereby hiding lines that show the other sides.

OBJECTS AND

INSTRUMENTS

102

Tonality W H E N MAKING A TONAL DRAWING, t h e r e a r e p r i n c i p a l l y

Dramatic lighting emphasizes texture and contour, making

two opposite methods of achieving the same result. You

complicated or subtle surfaces easier to see and understand. It

can begin with outlines and build slowly from light to dark

maximizes the range of tones between black and white, and

(see opposite top), or you can begin with a mid-gray ground

strong contrasts are easier to draw. Remember that shadows,

and model light out of darkness (see opposite

beams of light, and solid objects are all of equal importance.

bottom).

Start by arranging a choice of shells on a sheet of paper to

In the finished drawing there should be few, if any. outlines,

your left if you are right-handed (or vice versa). It is important

simply shapes and subtleties of light and dark meeting each

to place them on the correct side so as to draw comfortably

other with no divisions in between. Draw the largest and most

(see pp.22-23).

Illuminate them with a gooseneck lamp

distinct areas of light and darkness first. Gradually hone your

placed very close and directed away from your eyes; if light

drawing, leaving detail until last. Relaxing your eyes out of

shines in them, it will inhibit your perception of tone.

focus as you draw will help to dissolve the distraction of detail.

LIGHT TO DARK

DARK TO LIGHT

103

1

TONALITY

LIGHT TO DARK (LINE TO TONE)

2

3

2

3

Using a sharp HB pencil, draw a rectangle. Honetheshapesand angles of the shells, Remember that its size, shape, and edges definingthespacialrelationships between are important aspects of your composition them. Treat positive form and negative space (see pp.56-57). Use quick, loose, pale lines with equal importance. Erase and make changes to roughly place theuntil shells youinside are happy your with frame. your composition.

Gentlydissolveoutlines so that areas oflightanddark meet without a line between them. Fll in broad areas first and leave all detail until last. Relaxing your eyes out of focus will help to eliminate distracting details.

DARK TO LIGHT (TONE TO TONE)

1

Using the flattened tip of an HB pencil, Let your eyes go out of focus while looking gently layer marks to create an even tone at your subject and paper: Draw the most ofmid-graywithin a rectangle. Avoid a rough significant areas of light in your gray rectangle with texture and do not press the graphite hard into plastic eraser Ignore all detail and draw a white thepaperor you will not be able to erase it. with broad sweeps of the eraser. boldly

Keeping your eyes out of focus, look at the main areas of darkness. Use your pencil to develop these in relation to the areas of light. Continue working between light and dark to refine the drawing. Draw in the details last of all.

OBJECTS AND I N S T R U M E N T S

104

Drawing with Wire DRAWINGS DO NOT HAVE to be two-dimensional. They can

be made in space. The second is that after achieving this

also be made in space. On p.69 we see how the architect

simple example, you can create your own more ambitious

Antonio Gaudi drew proposed domes using suspended

works. Third, three-dimensional drawings teach us about

wires and weights, and on p.220 Mamoru Abe draws with

the totality of forms in space, and physical relationships

forged steel rods. On p. 176 the British artists Noble and

between them. When drawing anything viewed from one

Webster draw with domestic refuse in a beam of light, and

side on paper, our image is stronger if we understand and

on p. 19 Picasso draws with a pen-light for the camera.

can visualize what is happening on the other side too.

This class uses thin-gauge wire to create a three-

Seeing through a wire drawing of a known object such as

dimensional violin. There are essentially three lessons to be

a violin gives us a visual and tactile understanding of all

learned. The first is that figurative and abstract drawings can

its sides and shapes at once.

PEN LINES Once you have created your three-dimensional violin (opposite), try drawing it with a pen on paper Use bold, smooth, continuous lines. Place the instrument on a plain surface and illuminate it with a desk lamp to add the delicate dimension of shadows.

105

DRAWING WITH WIRE

SETTING UP

Follow these steps to draw a three-dimensional violin Choose a gauge of wire sturdy enough to hold the shape ofyourfinished drawing, but thin enough to be easily manipulated inyourfingers Here. I used garden wire and cut it carefully with pruners.

1

Decide how big to draw your violin relative to the gauge of your wire; thin wire will make a smaller drawing, and thick wire a larger one. Cut a length, and pinch and bend it to shape the base of the instrument

Once you have completed the body, begin to shape the curvature of the fingerboard. Here, I started with the scroll at the top and fixed the four component wires with two drawings of tuning pegs.

4

2

Repeat this process to make the identical upper side of the instrument. Join the two sides together with four short pieces of wire. These will hold the sides apart and help to keep the form in shape.

3

If needed, brace the two ends of the violin with a length of wire along the back. Then begin to define its uppermost surface with Scurves and the bridge.

Artifacts and Fictions IN

1993 I

WORKED

with a group of schoolchildren who were responding

to the astonishing objects in the collection of the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, England. Using found materials, they invented new anthropological finds—objects that reflected the distant past and their immediate future. I had the privilege of drawing their inventions, some of which are shown here.

The Body UR BODIES MAKE us TANGIBLE, a n d w e d r a w o u r s e l v e s to a s s e r t o u r e x i s t e n c e . W e

O

are the only creatures on Earth that can make our own image. The human body,

clothed or nude, is the most c o m m o n subject in art. It gives physical and emotive form to religious narratives, myths and fables, history paintings and other stories, portraiture, and anatomical and erotic art. Artists are thought to have b e g u n drawing from the nude during the Italian Renaissance. In this period, the junior workshop apprentices posed as part of their duties. Drawings were usually made from the male nude to avoid offending the church, and because the female was deemed inferior. Look closely at Renaissance drawings of the female b o d y and you will see that m o s t are actually y o u n g m e n with minor adjustments. During this time, artists also tried to define ideal proportions in the body; Leonardo drew a man within a circle and square, while Durer took his research further— A. R. WILLIAMS

he sought perfection in the infinitesimal measurement of the body and produced four

Contemporary photographer volumes of illustrated explanation. Renaissance artists studying anatomy from dissection clinically trained and specialized as a medical illustrator. Williams were decades ahead of their medical counterparts. Michelangelo attended dissections to made this image by light sectioning: fine beams of light perfect his understanding of surface form, while Leonardo opened the body to see and projected onto a woman's body draw the celebratory discover for himself our physical mechanisms. He even believed he had located the soul contours of her form like a cartographer's map of in the pituitary fossa beneath the brain and behind the eyes, giving physical foundation undulating land. W e understand every curve and balance of to the theory that the eves are the windows of the soul. herimpressive presence because we are given such Life drawing no longer dominates the art school curriculum, but the study of a controlled, sculptural description of her form. She the body is still essential. These classes are popular around the world, and in San could easily be transferred into three dimensions. This finished image was produced asF r a n c i s c o , the Bay Area Models' Guild h o l d s a quarterly life-drawing m a r a t h o n aprinton Kodak transfer paper with green-colored dye added celebrating the great diversity of human proportion. The body remains at the core of over the initially white lines.

much Western contemporary art. Strangely, in our privileged and comfortable society, focus has turned to the vulnerability of flesh: how it can be damaged, diseased, and surgically rebuilt. Artists now explore the interior of the body with new media and

Lateral Contour Map of a Full-Term Primipara Produced by Light 1979

technology, from video and X-ray to thermal imaging. This chapter addresses issues that are most commonly faced by beginners attending life-drawing classes. It also looks 3

A. R. W I L L I A M S

at the representation of the b o d y b11 e y/4o n d traditional life drawing, explaining ranges of materials and techniques and showing diversities of thought and purpose in making.

x 7 in (300 x 180

T H E BODY

110

Postures and Poses

THESE DISTINCTIVE WORKS show two strikingly different ways

were m a d e contrast greatly. Raphael's study of fallen m e n

of modeling the body on paper. Raphael drew delicate tones

leaves no doubt that they are in anguish. In a single drawing

of black chalk on tinted paper, while Matisse used scissors

we see equally o b s e r v e d studies of f o r e s h o r t e n i n g (see

and glue to cut out and paste a flat collage of brilliant color.

pp.116-17),

Principal figures m i r r o r e a c h other. T h e y b o t h raise one

Matisse's b l u e n u d e sings with life and c e l e b r a t i o n . In this

arm to cup their head in their hand, while supporting the

highly s o p h i s t i c a t e d a b s t r a c t i o n , we see the e s s e n c e of h e r

weight of their body with the other. But the meanings of

b e a u t y w i t h o u t a single detail. She u n f o l d s and s t r e t c h e s

each gesture and the materials and methods by which they

shapely limbs, filling the page with her presence.

anatomy, and human defeat. By way of contrast,

RAFFAELLO SANZIO (RAPHAEL)

Sculptural frieze This is a preparatory drawing for Raphael's

Italian High Renaissance painter: Raphael is best known for his images of the Madonna and Child, altar pieces, and Vatican frescos. He trained under Perugino, and studied to learn from the works of Michelangelo and Leonardo besides whom he was soon ranked.

painting of the Resurrection of Christ. Here three male nudes are compressed

into very shallow pictorial space, so that we read this

drawing like a sculptural frieze. Muscular dramatic postures reflect the influence of Michelangelo and the Renaissance celebration of the idealized male body.

Three Guards 1500-20 91/4 x143/8in (234 x 365 mm) RAPHAEL

111

HENRY MATISSE French

painter: draftsman,

printmaker,sculptor,designer writer; teacher and principal exponent o f Fauvism—a movement established in 1905 in which bold color is the most essential element, Matisse became an artist after studying law. His calligraphic natural

abstractions of

form grew brighter,

freer, and more energetic as

his w o r k matured.

Color and form This collage is one of a series of Blue Nudes, foundamong many other groups of papercut

spectacular and sometimes drawings. Matisse

these works as an elderly man confined

to his bed or wheelchair.

They celebrate the culmination of his

lifelong love of brilliant

pattern, fabric, and Islamic art.

Soothing influence This drawing expresses the achievement of Matisse's personal aim: "What I dream

of is an art of balance,

and depressing

serenity, devoid of troubling

subject matter...which

might be...like an appeasing influence, a mental soother...or like a good armchair in which to rest from physical fatigue."

Blue Nude 1 1952 413/4 HENRY MATISSE

T H E BODY

112

Choreographs T I M E IS A SIGNIFICANT E L E M E N T i n t h e m a k i n g o f a l l d r a w i n g s .

velvet d a r k n e s s . Below, in a perfect e x a m p l e , it is as if

Here, we c o m p a r e a skillful design that absorbed m u c h time

the very atoms of air are made visible, agreeing to coalesce

in its making with the quickness of an idea marked instantly.

and show us the form of a waiting boy, w h o sits propped

In his f a m o u s paintings of social e n g a g e m e n t , Seurat evolved a distinctive t e c h n i q u e called p o i n t i l l i s m — i m a g e s

in the contradictory darkness of a hot summer's day. Opposite, Beuys's magician, scratched in seconds, stands

literally made from myriad points of color. His drawings are

in counterpoise holding a dark globe and his thoughts in

similarly u n i q u e . Typically, he used b l a c k c o n t e (see p. 162)

m o m e n t a r y balance. T h e space around h i m chatters with

and an eraser to model teeming points of artificial light amid

symbols, like small birds attendant on the meditation.

GEORGES SEURAT

Tone and light In this black conte drawing, there are no

French painter classically educated in the Ingres

outlines, only tones blending into, or abruptly meeting, other

school of thought. Seurat engaged in lifelong studies

tones. Light is given by the paper alone. If Seurat had added

of line, form, and color His applied theories still

white, it would have mixed with unseen black dust, turned

Seated Boy with a Straw Hat 1883-84

influence painters in their manipulation and rendering

gray, and muddied the brilliance of the drawing. Using the

91/2 x 121/4 in (241 x 312 m m

of local, reflected, and c o m p l e m e n t a r y hues.

paper to create light is important for beginners to learn.

GEORGES SEURAT

113 One of the most influential German artists of the 20th century. Beuys gave performances, taught workshops with a cult following, and made installations, video art, and drawings. He was a shaman who believed in intuition and in the investment of healing force.

the profound power

CHOREOGRAPHS

JOSEPH BEUYS

of

materials with spiritual or

Free lines This pale pencil drawing is Beuys. Many of his other

rather conventional

for

Joseph

works

on paper have been drawn with symbolic

materials such as honey,

iodine,gold, and blood. This figure is drawn intuitively, free from the constraint

of

immaculate

representation. Perfectly modeled form opposite)

is irrelevant to the

impetus

and meaning of this work

Focus Beuys's hand

(as we see in Seurat's

drawing

moved

quickly to draw dotted lines flowing downward on either side of the figure.

Unbroken lines stream from his

simultaneously

in different positions.

These aspects of the work convey movement,

transience,

and

fractured visibility. Our focus joins that

The Secret Block for a Secret Person in Ireland UNDATED 113/4 J O S E P H BEUYS

x81/4in (297 x 210

mm)

shoulders. His

THE

BODY

114

Passion SUMMONING HUMANITY in a drawing of the nude is a subtle

Opposite, Anita Taylor has drawn her protective body hug out

and emotional task. Our bodies radiate the passion of our

of the darkly glistening compression of willow charcoal and

thoughts and so become beacons of our frailty and power. In

the dynamism of her shy but momentous femininity. We are

Rodins work, the fierceness of the women's kiss is beautifully

asked to gaze u p o n her flesh; its soft, flushed skin made

matched by the tenderness of his line. They whisper and

ruddy and black with crushed cinders. In both drawings,

writhe in a brushed and sultry embrace that devours our

the women are framed and caressed by long, sweeping lines—

watching. We are involved not as a shabby voyeur but as a

of either purple silk fabric or cool studio air—that imprint

bystander engaged through our recognition of shared joy.

and amplify their past and future movements.

AUGUSTE RODIN French Romantic sculptor and prolific draftsman employed as an ornamental mason until the age of 42. Achieving international acclaim in mid-life, Rodin produced portraits and statues of public and literary figures. Inspired by Michelangelo, his w o r k is characterized by deliberate un-finish and powerfully modeled emotion.

Delicate

strokes

This is one of about

7,000 drawings shown in rotation at the Musee Rodin, Paris, and one of hundreds of rapid studies of nudes. Rodin

employed

models to move freely or pose together in his studio. As here, he typically drew them with a few delicate strokes of pencil and brushed

Free lines

watercolor.

Rodin's public audience

was

understandably shocked by the eroticism of his drawings. But what is stranger to us now is that they were also outraged by his free use of line. His exquisite

flow of paint

beyond "outlines," as seen here, was perceived as scandalous, and went on to inspire generations

Two Women 1911

of

artists.

Embracing

125/8x 9 in (320 x 229 mm) AUGUSTE RODIN

I 15 ANITA T A Y L O R Painter, draftsman, professor and Vice Principal of Wimbledon School of Art. London. Taylor's immense self-portraits explore the relationship between the artist as maker and the artist as model, intimately reflecting upon the emotions and meaning of nudity, exposure, scrutiny, and gaze.

Charcoal Taylor has drawn freely with charcoal and an eraser on thick, textured paper. The sturdy surface of the sheet has allowed her to press hard when needed, and rework rich depths of light and tone. A thinner sheet might have crumpled and torn under such vigorous force of making.

Luminosity Layered marks flicker likefirelight as they sculpt the woman's body. Taylor has drawn, erased and drawn again, leaving her lightest marks at the deepest level of the image and applying darker marks above. This order of light

below and dark above gives

the impression of luminosity glowing from within.

All and Nothing 1999 67 x447/8in (170 x 1 1 4 cm) ANITA TAYLOR

T H E BODY

116

Measurement and Foreshortening FORESHORTENING IS AN ASPECT of perspective. In the life class

But if we could take a scaffold and climb up to the work,

it is the mechanism for ensuring that a drawn figure lies

we would arrive to find many of the same figures strangely

correctly in pictorial space - limbs happily receding, or

distorted, elongated as if stretched across the plaster. Up close

coming forward, without taking off, plummeting, or shrivelling

on the scaffold we would witness Michelangelo's subtle

at odd, unfathomable angles. It is not so hard; patience,

application of accelerated perspective, which is imperceptible

persistence, and a few measured comparisons are key. How

from below. Smaller, more extreme examples have been made

to make and apply these is explained below and opposite.

for court entertainment, to be translated by mirrors or seen

We also look at another very interesting branch called

from only one point in the room; for example, the skull in

accelerated (or anamorphic) perspective. This is chiefly a

Holbein's The Ambassadors

(The National Gallery, London).

correcting device by which figurative painters and sculptors

Accelerated perspective plays a great role in much art. It

have for centuries countered the effects of our viewing their

can also be a little demon in the life room, when beginners

work from far below or on the curvature of a vault. Imagine

prop their board in their lap and look down at too steep an

Michelangelo's murals in the Sistine Chapel, Rome, with

angle. To avoid its effects ensure you always look flat onto

dramatic illusions of figures painted in normal proportion.

the surface of your page.

MEASURING This is a simple method of making measured comparisons for relating the true size of one part to another This is a tool to assist observation and thinking. It is not complicated, and measurements do not have to be carried to the paper and slavishly drawn the same size they appear on your pencil.

1

Hold your arm straight. Lock your shoulder; elbow, and wrist joints. If your arm is not straight, you will make inconsistent and unrelated comparisons. Return to this posture every time.

Hold your pencil upright. Align the top with a point on your subject. Close one eye. Move the tip of your thumb down to a second chosen point. The length of exposed pencil is your measurement.

2

"Simple measured comparisons reveal surprising truths about proportion, helping us to see more clearly, and to draw what we see, rather that what we believe we know from experience."

3

Keep your pencil perpendicular Measure and compare at any angle. Spend time making comparisons before you draw. There is no need to mark them all down on paper; just making them helps you see.

117

To discover h o w this w o r k s , t a p e s o m e p a p e r t o a board. Stand its b o t t o m edge o n y o u r lap. Lean t h e t o p e d g e t o w a r d y o u and find a p o s i t i o n w h e r e y o u can c o m f o r t a b l y l o o k d o w n t h e p a p e r at an angle o f a b o u t 4 0 degrees. Keep t h e b o a r d steady and draw. To m a k e f o r m s l o o k c o r r e c t , y o u r hand travels f a r t h e r than y o u expect, which feels strange. P r o p o r t i o n s will only l o o k c o r r e c t f r o m t h e angle at w h i c h y o u make t h e drawing.

T h i s is t h e s a m e d r a w i n g p h o t o g r a p h e d f r o m above, looking d o w n t h e p a p e r at t h e a n g l e at w h i c h I d r e w . W e appear t o be looking d o w n o n a w o m a n s t a n d i n g b e n e a t h us.

FORESHORTENING To f o r e s h o r t e n a figure, y o u must let go o f w h a t y o u k n o w f r o m e x p e r i e n c e a b o u t t h e relative sizes o f b o d y parts and trust y o u r eyes. L o o k at y o u r m o d e l as if he o r she is a flat series o f shapes o n e o n t o p o f a n o t h e r Measure t h e height and w i d t h o f each shape and c o m p a r e it t o its neighbor. W o r k a r o u n d t h e figure, adjusting a n o n y m o u s shapes. S o o n t h e b o d y will lie d o w n in space, pleasingly f o r e s h o r t e n e d .

C o m p a r e t h e heights o f t h e nose and eye shapes t o t h o s e o f t h e f o r e a r m , belly, a n d thighs. See h o w d i f f e r e n t t h e relative heights o f t h e s e shapes are f r o m w h a t w e m i g h t e x p e c t in real life.

FORESHORTENING

Tilt t h e t o p edge o f this b o o k t o w a r d you and look d o w n o n this figure f r o m a b o v e . A t a c e r t a i n angle, h e r p r o p o r t i o n s will appear correct.

MEASUREMENT AND

ACCELERATED PERSPECTIVE

THE

BODY

118

Quick Poses DRAWING QUICK POSES l o c k s y o u r c o n c e n t r a t i o n o n t o

describe shape but expresses a decision about overall flow

what is most essential, propelling you to make immediate

of form, balance, and height. Be bold and dive into your

assessments and trust them. Start each new drawing by

drawing with c o n f i d e n c e . Layered lines give d e p t h ,

lightly marking the model's height with a loose line in ten

feeling, and energy. Leave first

seconds, working from her center to her feet and to her

thoughts in place, and work over

head. T h i s q u i c k e x p l o r a t o r y line does not perfectly

t h e m with further o b s e r v a t i o n s .

SEQUENCE OF POSES H e r e the model was asked to move every t w o minutes. I used a sharp H B pencil and began each drawing by marking her outline, height, and stance before honing her balance and expression.

Outline

Balance

To outline a figure, work back and forth across the body. Avoid drawing up one side and down the other, because it results in two unrelated sides drifting apart.

When a model stands upright on both feet, her center of balance is normally found in a vertical line beneath her head. To see this, imagine holding up a plumb line.

Height This pose leans away into space above our eye level. To draw this effect, make the upper body smaller give your model a high waist, and slightly enlarge her legs and feet.

119 The twist of a model is most easily and expressively captured if it is exaggerated. Most of us have a tendency to over-straighten the drawn figure, and this should be avoided

Tilt

A model standing on one leg usually drops the opposite hip. The tilt of the pelvis is then counter balanced by the model's shoulders tilting the other way (as seen here).

Movement

Here, the activity of circular lines and the repetition of limbs suggest movement. This drawing shows how different observations be overlaid to bring a drawing alive.

QUICK POSES

Twist

THE

BODY

120

Hands and Feet THERE ARE MANY different ways of approaching h a n d s and

of form. W h e n starting, it is important to leave aside all

feet, and they need not be daunting to draw. This exercise

details of the fingers and toes, especially the lengthwise

is useful when struggling with proportion. It also helps the

divisions between them. Focus instead on how planes

beginner to progress from drawing outlines to drawing

change direction across the knuckles from one side of the

confidently across the surface of the whole form.

hand or foot to the other. These planes, drawn in relation

Practice by drawing your own hands and feet, or those

to each other, express structure and gesture far more

of a friend. A mirror increases your range of views, and a

successfully and easily than ten worried outlines wandering

gooseneck lamp casts shadows that clarify planes and depths

up and down between the fingers and toes.

GESTURES OF THE HAND

Curled Fingers

1

Begin by drawing lines to encompass the whole hand, swiftly marking its essential gesture. Draw large shapes and their orientation. Group the fingers together as one mass. Do not separate them yet, and ignore all details.

Open Palm

2

Start honing the shapes of the dominant planes, starting with the largest. Then subdivide each shape so that you w o r k from large to small, general to specific. Keep lines open to change and take measurements if they help.

3

Build your drawing gradually from light to dark. Don't worry about achieving perfect solutions, but regard these practice studies as ongoing processes of thought and observatio Add details such as nails last if you wish.

121

HANDS AND FEET

MOVEMENTS OF THE FOOT

Flat Stance

Raised Heel

Instep

1

Let your first marks be light, loose, and rapid. Leave aside all detail, and don't worry about accuracy t o begin with. Try t o express the whole foot and t o encapsulate its entire shape and direction in a few marks.

2

Nowimagineyou are carving the foot insidethepaper,as though out o f wood. Hew it roughly in broad, flattened planes, as if with a chisel. Look for key angles without becoming distracted by detail.

3

Use an eraser t o refine decisions o r t o suggest areas o f light. It can be a mistake, however, t o remove t o o many early lines; these are what give a drawing its tangible structure, depth, and spontaneity.

Charcoal Hands T H E S E DRAWINGS ARE MADE

in compressed charcoal. Compare

its nature in close-up to that of willow charcoal used on pp.204-05. Opposite, I also used white ink with a steel dip pen. The white lines demonstrate what is often called "bracelet shading."

Phrasing Contours

HERE TRACES OF RAPID initial lines are still seen within and outside each body. I make these lines in the first five to ten seconds of a drawing to locate the presence, length, and posture of the model, before honing his or her shape (see pp. 118-19).

The Visual Detective DRAWING FROM MASTERWORKS

was once a staple component of an artist's education.

It is now viewed with some skepticism and often seen as academic. I draw in museums in support of written research and as an artist seeking answers to questions about the practicalities of image making. Drawing work by another artist enables you to discover and understand the inventive hand in their composition. Forms, characters, perspectives, and narrative pulse become vivid when you realize them in the middle of your study, feeling them through the attentive movements of your own hand.

La Specola At17V i a Romana, Florence, there is a unique museum of 18th-century anatomical waxes. Walls are lined with hundreds of faintly animated body parts, each modeled from dissection. Life-size women wearing wigs recline on beds of embroidered silk in cabinets of mahogany and Venetian glass This is a detail of a compressed charcoal drawing measuring 14 x 10 ft (4.3 x 3 m) made in response to La Specola. These almost life-size figures were composed from my imagination and achieved with the help af studies discussed on pp. 126-27.

Portraiture IN P O R T R A I T U R E W E

MEET

PEOPLE,

usually strangers from past times, who, having been

documented and preserved, look directly at us, or past us, or whose eyes can seem to follow us around the room Portraiture is a constant, live, and lucrative genre for artists. The truth is that we all like looking at faces and observing the billions of variations that make us individuals. We are also reassured by keeping records of ourselves. Halls and palaces are filled with pictures of the mighty and significant. Our homes are filled with images of our loved ones and of those in our families who have gone before. Past rulers sent painters across continents to bring back a likeness in advance of a prospective royal marriage. The returning image was of crucial consideration in any proposal. Portraits can be highly or loosely detailed, single or of groups, abstract or figurative, and satirical or metaphorical. We can mold and animate qualities of expression out of objects and fragments of disassociated things—for example, Man Ray's self-portrait of scored lines, bells, buttons, and a handprint (see

p.139).

To create

a face is to see and interpret the essence of an identity. W h e n drawing a person, the meaning of their face, their stance, and their posture can be changed with just one line. Equally, a single line can deliver an entire expression. Goya, in a miniature self-portrait magnified opposite, gathered all that he knew FRANCISCO DE GOYA V i s i o n a r y Spanish painter, draftsman, and p r i n t m a k e r . Goya's w o r k s include many royal and society p o r t r a i t s , historical, religious, and secular narratives, and social and political commentaries. This enlargement o f his miniature p o r t r a i treveals t h e s p e e d and agility o f his p e n and

about himself, and in a few scrolling rafts of pen lines and stubbled dots, is here to both meet and look through us. Self-portraiture gives every artist a constant, compliant subject to scrutinize. Rembrandt's famous multitude of self-portraits, made as he passed through the ages of man, became more poignant as he progressed. For centuries, painters have dropped discreet records of themselves into commissioned narratives so that they can remain a face in the crowd. Movie director Alfred

his changes in pressure and Hitchcock length o f line. It also reminds us o f b o t h t h e intimacy and a scene as scrutiny o f an honest portrait.

similarly signed his films by playing a fleeting role: he walks through an extra, or a glimpse of him is caught in a photograph used as a prop.

Beginners often draw themselves as a way of establishing their practice, and it is very rewarding. In this chapter, we use the delicate medium of silver point to look at foundation structures of the head, neck, throat, and shoulders. Once you understand Self-Portrait in a Cocked Hat c. 1790-92 4 x 3 in ( 1 0 2 x 7 6 m m ) F R A N C I S C O DE G O Y A

and memorize the basic structure that we all share, you can capture the subtlety, character, and expression of the individual.

PORTRAITURE

132

Poise THE BALANCE BETWEEN a mark and a blank space is often a

girl onto the page. While with longer consideration,

tantalizing form of perfection. The aesthetic sense of a line

Holbein maps the still landscape of Dorothea's body

being just right can make a drawing sing. The Tightness of

in questioning marks, stealthily using his chalk to find

a line is felt in its speed, length, breadth, and pressure as it

contours and mass, adding smudges of tone for weight and

conducts our eye through the image. Here the grace and

solidity. Her face is drawn tenderly and with a luminous

beauty of two young women are held forever. We can read so

glow. It is the portrait of a countrywoman, caught in her

much about them by studying their gaze. Without faltering,

last moments of youth, teetering on the brink of older age,

Picasso strikes and scrolls his pencil, whisking a timeless

one eye already cast askew into the autumn of her life.

PABLO PICASSO Spanish Cubist painter (see also p.30). Picasso has left to posterity many hundreds of magnificent line drawings. Through exhibitions and copies in books, we can enjoy and learn from them. For the beginner, they serve as a great lesson that it is not always necessary to add tone to your drawing. How could the addition of shadows have enhanced this image?

Few strokes

The simplicity of

Picasso's line is breathtaking. He makes his flair and skill look easy. We can actually count that he struck the paper 40 times. There is a common

misunderstanding

that a drawing with only a few lines is both less finished and easier to make than a drawing with more. The truth is often the opposite. It takes a truly accomplished

hand

to capture something well in only a few strokes.

Frangoise au Bandeau 1946 660 x 505 mm (26 x197/8in) PABLO PICASSO

133

HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER German p o r t r a i t painter draftsman, and designer f r o m Basel. Holbein was employed toward the end of his life by King Henry VIII of England. In addition t o his numerous exquisite portraits in oil, he designed c o u r t costumes, made a popular series o f w o o d c u t prints titled The Dance of Death, and produced numerous society portraits such as this one here.

Blended colors In this portrait drawn with colored chalks on slightly textured paper, Holbein unified the woman with her background by gently blending colors from her clothes and face into the atmosphere around her. He outlined her nose but not her upper lip, which, gently flushed, presses against the binding across her face.

Cropping This regal composition fits its paper perfectly. Holbein has cropped and pinned his subject within the four outermost lines of the image—the edges of the page. The peak of her cap clips the uppermost edge, and its downward slope crowns the diagonal of the composition. Her folded forearms support and frame her weight above.

Portrait of Dorothea Kannengiesser 1516 51/8 x121/4in (385 x 310 m m ) HOLBEIN THE YOUNGER

PORTRAITURE

134

Anatomies These highly finished drawings express the emotional power

claiming to be d r a w n from observation. In fact, the face

and physicality of the head and neck. N e w s o m e ' s eerily

is one of the hardest parts to dissect. Delicate muscles are

shadowed form is smooth and bears a linear grain evocative

integrated with the skin and fat that is to be r e m o v e d .

of w o o d . It floats in space, solid above and almost hollow

Nerves, blood vessels, and glands also complicate form.

below. Psychological drama is contained behind a grid, while

This is a m a r v e l o u s interpretation of the truth. The real

white painted flecks and wisps suggest electrical illumination.

dissection w o u l d have been far more c o m p l e x , confusing,

The style of Durelli's d r a w i n g opposite sings with the

distorted, and unpleasant to see. Anatomically, Durelli has

confidence of truth and precision, its highly clarified detail

m a d e a few m i n o r mistakes, but they are irrelevant here.

VICTOR NEWSOME

Contrasts

British sculptor painter and draftsman. Newsome was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1960, taught at numerous British art schools from 1962-77, continues to exhibit regularly, and has works in major collections including the Tate Gallery, London.

against smooth, dark tones of graphite blended into the paper,

Sharp, dark lines made with a pencil

appear

perhaps

using a tortillon. Highlights

applied

late in the making, using a fine and relatively

of white gouache

were dry

brush. This is one of a number of similar disembodied female heads seen behind, or defined by, the contours of a grid.

Profile Head

1982 13 x 181/8 in (328 x 460 mm) VICTOR NEWSOME

135

DURELLI

Linear perfection This is a red chalk drawing of extraordinary

Little is k n o w n o f this M i l a n e s e p a i n t e r a n d

accomplishment. It is hard to think of a more difficult medium

Red Chalk

engraver w h o c a m e from a family o f artists, Durelli's

with which to achieve such linear perfection. Stylized parallel

the Muscles

experience as an engraver is reflected in his stylized

lines are reminiscent of engravings, and it is likely that this

1837

drawing o f muscle fibers, which, w h e n contracted,

drawing was intended for reproduction as a print. Pencil

173/8 x 145/8 in ( 4 4 0 x 3 7 2 m m )

pull their points o f attachment t o w a r d each other

numbers refer to the list of muscles written beneath.

ANTONIO

and Pencil

Drawing

of the Head

DURELLI

of

and

Neck

ANATOMIES

ANTONIO

PORTRAITURE

136

Revelations

of shoulders, necks, and heads, each locked into a visionary gaze. Both works demonstrate how simple lines can be made complex by being intense. They show us clearly the bones of drawing. Without paint and with very little tone, each portrait is inscribed onto the page. There is a film of Giacometti drawing. The camera watches him at work, and with staccato flinches his hyperactive eye moves from paper to model, while his hand stabs and thrusts

THESE ARE DRAWINGS

like a conductors baton. Similar movements sculpted the head below into its page. Agitated marks make patches of tone that cut away the space around the character. Flesh is built and personality carved simultaneously. Opposite, Bellini gently conjures the features of his saint with soft marks that tease his presence out of shadows into the light. We are brought intimately close to this man gazing up to heaven; close enough to touch his hair and feel his breath. ALBERTO GIACOMETTI Swiss sculptor; painter draftsman, and poet After studying in Geneva and Italy, Giacometti settled in Paris. He is best known for his bronze sculptures of human form, which are characteristically elongated. They confuse our perception of scale by being intimately fragile and at the same time far removed, as if seen from a distance.

Energy This is a portrait of a woman drawn with black crayon on a plain page of a book Lines search for the essence of form, cutting and carving the paper with matted and spiraling restless energy.

Speed

Giacometti probably

began with an oval shape placed in relation to the proportion of the page. Then, with speed and urgency, he drew over the whole image at once.

Portrait de Marie-Laure de Noailles c. 1948 77/8 x 6 in (200 x 150 mm) ALBERTO GIACOMETTI

G I O V A N N I BELLINI A prominent member of a large family o f V e n e t i a n painters, Bellini s t u d i e d u n d e r his f a t h e r J a c o p o , a n d b r o t h e r in-law, Mantegna. H e p r e f e r r e d religious t o classical t h e m e s , a n d his w o r k is d i s t i n c t i v e l y calm, lyrical, a n d c o n t e m p l a t i v e . H e t a u g h t G i o r g i o n e Barbarelli and Titian.

Transfer This delicate

chalk

drawing is a cartoon—not humorous

a

image but a type

of template used to plan the composition of a larger work Look closely and you will see rows of tiny dots along every significant line in the picture. These are pinholes,

which

were made in the process of transferring

the saint to his

final place in the composition of a painting (see Glossary pp.25 6 - 5 9 ) .

Character This is one of many cartoons

produced

by Bellini

and his family. Sometimes

the

same character was reused in different narrative

Head

compositions.

and

Shoulders of a

Man

UNDATED 73/8 GIOVANNI

BELLINI

x 21/4 in ( 1 8 6 x 5 8

PORTRAITURE

138

Self-Portraits

THE MIRROR OF SELF-PORTRAITURE offers artists infinite

headed, spear-brandishing warrior. It is an image of

reflections of, and confrontations with, their most immediate

confrontation—the ever-controversial young artist roars at

and best-known subject: themselves. It is an opportunity to

us from his abstract city-scape.

look deep without the infringement of courtesies owed to a

Man Ray's playful silk-screen assembly of color blocks,

commissioning sitter. It has proved to be a subject of piercing

scrolls, scratched lines, bells, and buttons rings with surrealist

scrutiny, political outcry, humor, and indulgence.

wit and agile improvisation. The artist has finished his portrait

The incandescent New York painter Jean Michel Basquiat

with the signature of his hand smacked in the middle like a

pictured himself here in naked silhouette; a tribal, skull-

kiss: a declaration of existence as old as man's first drawing.

JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT Short-lived American painter and graffiti artist who began his blazing nine-year career drawing on lower Manhattan subway trains with a friend, Al Diaz, signing their work SAMO. Later Basquiat sold drawings on T-shirts, postcards, and sheet metal before being snapped up by the New York contemporary art scene. In 1986 he traveled to Africa and showed his work in Abidjan on the Ivory Coast He also exhibited in Germany and France.

Signs and symbols with symbols

This painting

shudders

that ore written, drawn, and

scratched into its surface. The figure's position is unequivocal and defiant while around him is in a state Without

the essential

everything

of cultural

flux.

figure we would

belookingat a sophisticated

and

elegant

painting of signs, marks, and attitudes, similar to work by Cy Twombly (see p.221). Islands of graphic marks, made with great energy, float and shimmer in the shallow pictorial

Self Portrait 1982 9 4 x 7 6 in (239 x 193 cm) JEAN MICHEL BASQUIAT

space.

139

MAN RAY American surrealist photographer, painter, printmaker and cofounder of the New York Dada movement. During the 1920's and 30s, Man Ray lived and worked in Paris, where he collaborated with the artist Laslo MoholyNagy. They experimented with camera-free photography working directly onto photographic paper

Silk and ink This is a silkscreen print made through the following process: the paper was laid on a flat surface and a frame stretched with fine silk was placed on top. The first part of the stenciled image was already marked on the silk The screen and paper were then held tightly together, while a squeegee was used to drag thick lilac-brown ink across the silk pushing it though exposed areas onto the paper below. Black ink was printed next and then white. The handprint appears to be made directly, last of all. Man Ray probably used his own hand, caked in thick printing ink or paint.

Frame White lines are seemingly (though not actually) scratched through ink to frame this face. They suggest speed and make the picture look immediate and

spontaneous.

Autoportrait 1916 195/8 MAN RAY

PORTRAITURE

140

Silver P o i n t SILVER OR METAL POINT

was familiar to

STRETCHING PAPER

or eggshells with animal glue, laid on paper,

illuminators of medieval m a n u s c r i p t s ,

p a r c h m e n t , or wood. The most c o m m o n

who used it to outline initials and border

metal has always been silver—hence the term

characters before painting. Numerous early

"silver point." Lead, copper, platinum, and

European artists also enjoyed its fine

gold have also been used, and alloys work

qualities (see p. 156). Metal point is simply

on matt emulsion. Note h o w domestic

a strip of metal bound in a holder. Drawn

paintwork marks with a coin, key, or ring;

across a prepared surface, it leaves a

an exciting indication of how large-scale

deposit, which quickly oxidizes into a gray

drawings could be made on a wall.

line. This browns with age unless sealed by

Opposite, I combined silver point with

fixative (see pp.54-55). Metal point does not

painted white gouache on a pink ground.

work on ordinary paper; the surface must

This is called a three-tone drawing. Pages

be primed with a ground such as gouache.

142 to 147 are illustrated in silver point and

Historically, artists mixed white lead, bone,

techniques are explained on pp. 144-45.

A sheet o f p a p e r t h a t has been made w e t with the strokes o f a paintbrush will buckle d u e t o its uneven expansion. Stretched paper remains taut as a d r u m , and is therefore useful w h e n using w a t e r c o l o r as well as silver point. Lay a clean d r a w i n g b o a r d o n a flat surface. Take a sheet o f any t y p e o f p a p e r (for e x a m p l e , w h i t e d r a w i n g paper) and cut it t o fit y o u r d r a w i n g b o a r d w i t h a generous b o r d e r a r o u n d its edges.Tear o f f f o u r lengths o f b r o w n p a p e r g u m tape, o n e t o fit each side o f t h e b o a r d — t h e s e will make t h e glued f r a m e t h a t holds y o u r p a p e r in place.

MATERIALS

To begin, you will need t o stretch paper and lay a wash (see right and opposite), purchase silver wire, and make o r buy a holder. If w o r k i n g o n an emulsion-painted wall, choose a silver object. 1. S O F T F U L L B R U S H : W h e n laying a

3 . SILVER P O I N T W I R E H O L D E R : T h e s e

w a s h , c h o o s e a s o f t full b r u s h t h a t c a n c a r r y

c a n b e p u r c h a s e d a n d t e n d t o b e heavy. I

p l e n t y o f l i q u i d . M a k e s u r e i t is c o m p l e t e l y

m a k e m y o w n f r o m o l d dip pens. E m p t y

clean t o avoid u n w a n t e d streaks.

mechanical pencils designed f o r t h i c k leads ( s e e p.54)

can also b e used.

2. Z I N C W H I T E G O U A C H E : Dilute with opposite)

4 . SILVER W I R E : Purchase different

b e f o r e priming stretched paper. Gesso

gauge lengths f r o m a traditional a r t

o r m a t t e m u l s i o n c a n a l s o b e u s e d . I t is

supplier o r jeweler. For i m p o r t a n t

a v a i l a b l e f r o m all a r t s h o p s .

a d v i c e o n p r e p a r a t i o n a n d use, s e e p . 1 4 4 .

w a t e r A d d c o l o r i f r e q u i r e d (as

1

Find a clean sponge and b o w l o r d e e p t r a y a n d fill it w i t h w a t e r W e t t h e p a p e r evenly in t h e t r a y o r o n t h e b o a r d . Lightly s p o n g e o f f t h e excess. T h e p a p e r will l o o k b u c k l e d , b u t d o n ' t w o r r y .

5. M E T A L OBJECTS: All metal objects m a r k a p r e p a r e d surface, s o m e m o r e e f f e c t i v e l y t h a n o t h e r s . S i l v e r is b e s t . Find a n i t e m t h a t y o u can h o l d a n d draw with comfortably.

Straighten the w o r s t buckles. W e t o n e length o f g u m - s t r i p a n d use i t t o fix o n e side o f t h e p a p e r t o t h e b o a r d . W e t a n d fix a s e c o n d strip t o t h e o p p o s i t e side, and t h e t h i r d and f o u r t h strips a b o v e and b e l o w . Be swift and firm.

2

141

SILVER POINT

3

Leave the paper to dry flat.

It will slowly straighten and become taut. Beware of the tape's coming loose at any point while drying, as the paper will be ruined by a raised ridge. Dry thoroughly before laying a wash.

LAYING A WASH It

is necessary to lay a wash

your stretched paper so as to prime it for silver point. Mix a very wet but not weak solution of gouache in a jar with a lid (add pigment at this stage for a three-tone drawing). Make enough to cover your paper; any extra will keep. Prop up your board of dry, stretched paper at a 45-degree angle. The next step will make a small mess, so put newspaper under the lower edge. Dip a soft, full brush into the gouache and start in the top left corner, Make an even line across to the right. Reload the brush and add a second line overlapping it beneath. Keep adding smooth, overlapping lines until you reach the bottom. Runs blend into each other evenly, leaving a smooth surface. Leave the wash to dry thoroughly before you begin to draw.

Three-tone When coloring ground, slowly add powder pigment or gouache from a tube, v e r y little at a time. Keep testing on spare paper, and let tests dry before deciding to change the mixture. Here, I used a powder pigment called Caput Mortuum.

T h r e e - t o n e silver point drawing of a skull

o

PORTRAITURE

142

Head and Neck THE HEAD AND NECK are best conceived as one unit

vertebrae—adjusts and holds the angle and expression of

arranged in four parts: cranium, face, neck, and throat.

the head. The throat is delicate, hard, and lumpy to the

Each is of equal importance. The cranium is essentially

touch, formed of cartilaginous rings, glands, thin muscles,

egg-shaped and pivots on the first vertebra. The face is

and looser skin. Framing the throat, two columnar neck

suspended beneath, like a softly curved triangle. The n e c k —

muscles (sternomastoids) project the head forward and

a powerful, shapely column of layered muscles rigged to

also turn it to the opposite side.

Shorthand diagram

This is a simple shorthand diagram representing the cranium, face, neck, and throat. It can be learned and visualized in different positions very easily, giving the novice a firm footing on which to stand and develop their drawings of the head and neck.

Cranium Begin with an egg shape. Tilt it on the paper to change the position of the head.

Applied shorthand

Face Draw a rounded triangular shape below the forward point of the egg to represent the face.

After copying the diagram above, animate it. Practice drawing the cranium at different angles, add the face beneath, then the neck, shoulders, and throat. Shape your diagrams so they are more lifelike, but avoid adding detailed features too soon.

Neck This shape represents the trapezius; the largest surface muscle of the neck and shoulders.

Throat A triangular shape represents the throat. (The nose makes the diagram clearer)

143

Bones of the cranium are locked together by jagged joints. Sinuses in the frontal (forehead) bone between and beneath the eyebrows are larger in men, making their brows pronounced and often ridged compared to those of women.

Bones of the face house our sight, smell, taste, The skull pivots on the first vertebra or "atlas," and speech. Cartilage extending from nasal bones after the Greek god condemned to carry the shapesthenose.Pads of fat resting on the base of Earth. The jaw hinges in front of the ears. Behind, eacheyesocket support the eyeballs in position. Ifbony ridges give anchor to the sternomastoid thefatisreducedby old age, eyes look sunken. muscles rising from the breast- and collarbones.

Three useful generalizations

General rules about the relative positions of body parts can hinder artists as much as help them, since they are often based on classical ideals rather than thediversityoflife.However,some generalizations can help as a rough guide to start with, so long as good observation takes over as soon as possible.

In general, when the face is relaxed (not smiling or frowning), the corners of the mouth are found directly beneath the pupils of the eyes. Vertical lines can be drawn down from the pupils to meet the corners of the mouth.

The height of a young adult's ear is often the same as their nose and found on the same level. There is no general rule for growing children, and remember that ears grow again in old age, which is most obvious in men.

The height of the face is about the length of the handspan and the eye is normally halfway down the total height of the head. A common error is to draw the eyes too high up on the face.

HEAD AND NECK

The skull and the frame of the throat

These three drawings demonstrate (from left to right) the following: why the cranium may be considered egg-shaped; now the face can be seen as a curved triangle suspended beneath and where the division lies between the two; and the form of sternomastoid muscles that frame thethroatsodistinctlywhen the head is turned and inclined forward.

PORTRAITURE

144

Essential Observations T H E DELICACY OF SILVER POINT

(see pp. 140-41) is perfect for

such as a beach pebble. Here, I stretched drawing

small, detailed drawings. The drawings below and opposite

paper and laid a wash of white gouache (see pp.140-41).

show useful observations of the head and neck, which are

As you can see, the line and tone of silver point varies

explained in the captions below. Each drawing was made

with pressure, but only slightly. Too much pressure cuts

with a silver wire held in a large-gauge mechanical pencil.

the ground. Silver point erases, but so does ground. Erased

Newly clipped wires are sharp and cut rather than draw.

ground can be repaired gently with extra gouache. You can

Before use, they need to be rubbed and smoothed on a stone

also use gouache to paint over mistakes and make corrections.

Contours

Here I imagined placing my silver point wire against the skin of each head and neck and, working in parallel bands from the crown downward, I traced the undulation of surfaces. Linear bands imagined around the head and neck can help you t o clearly see the tilt of the head and relative levels of the features. Ask a friend t o model for you and try this exercise life-size using a pencil and eraser

Tilted backward

Three-quarter view

General measurements, front

View from above

Tilted forward

Seeing that the face is never flat

Drawings below left and center are summaries of the generalizations given on p.143. Far right is an image to remind us that the face is never flat. It slopes back to varying degrees among individuals, from the tip of the nose t o the ears. For example, note that the innermost corners of the eyes are farther forward in space than the outermost corners.

General measurements, side

145

ESSENTIAL OBSERVATIONS

Male and female head and neck Men's necks a r e g e n e r a l l y s h o r t e r a n d t h i c k e r t h a n w o m e n ' s b e c a u s e t h e angles a n d levels o f c e r t a i n b o n e s a r e d i f f e r e n t b e t w e e n t h e sexes ( i n d i c a t e d h e r e b y d o t t e d lines) a n d m e n are n o r m a l l y m o r e muscular. T h e male t h y r o i d cartilage ( A d a m ' s apple) is larger a n d m o r e visible than t h e f e m a l e . L a r g e r f e m a l e t h y r o i d glands also s o f t e n t h e a p p e a r a n c e o f t h e t h r o a t .

Male

skeleton

Male

Female

skull

skull

Trapezius muscle The largest m u s c l e o f t h e s h o u l d e r s a n d n e c k is called the trapezius. A r r a n g e d on e i t h e r side o f t h e spine, it shapes t h e u p p e r back and neck above the s h o u l d e r blades. C o n t r a c t i n g in c o n j u n c t i o n w i t h d e e p e r and surrounding muscles, it raises and l o w e r s t h e shoulders a n d d r a w s t h e h e a d backtoeitherside.

Above

The whole

muscle

with head

forward

Upper

half with

Side with

sternomastoids

sternomastoid

Above

with head

Front with

straight

sternomastoid

PORTRAITURE

146

Drawing Portraits USING A SHARP 3 B PENCIL, I drew this head quickly from

smaller parts, with details brought in last of all. Phrased tonal

imagination, evolving its character and expression from the

marks modeling this girls skin and hair follow the technique

scheme of four parts: cranium, face, neck, a n d throat (see

demonstrated by Goya in his self-portrait on p. 130. Turn to

p. 142). Here, five steps show you how to practice doing the

Goya's drawing and study how, in a circle beginning across his

same. This approach can be used to draw from imagination

hat, moving down his hair, and around his coat, he flows lines

or from life. Keep your wrist loose and hold your pencil away

over surfaces to describe their contour. As you build from

from its point (see pp.22-23). Build the layers of your drawing

steps 1 to 5, bring phrased groups of lines across the surfaces

from pale to dark, a n d from general balance a n d form to

of your form, using their directions to capture the expression

specific detail. Remember that successful drawings are built on

of the head and neck. If unsure, copy my steps until you gain

foundations of "seeing the whole," then dividing the whole into

the confidence to make your own decisions.

BALANCED POSE

This drawing is the final stage of the four steps opposite. Here, I have enlarged the eye, and moved it back into the head by trimming the length of the upper lid and adding a more pronounced lower lid. It is important to set eyes far enough back from the relatively prominent nose; too close to it and the face flattens. Hair swept back and extended behind the cranium balances the regal pose. Lines shaping the hair echo those marking the cranium in step 1. Here, the lower part of step 1 comes through as wisps of hair across her face and ear

Portrait of a Young Girl

147 DRAWING PORTRAITS

Building up the portrait

1

2

3

4

Gently spin pale lines in a softly drawn shape representing the cranium.Theangle at which you draw this shape of the paper will determine the angle of the finished head. Keep your first lines light; avoid drawing too dark, too soon.

Place the eye beneath the cranium. Here, I used light to describe the upper lid first with a shadow beneath for the lower lid and open eye. The eye announces the nature and expression of the emerging person. The nose and ear begin to shape the head.

Rapidly add shorthand shapes to represent the face, neck, and throat. First lines will remain visible in the final drawing, so it is important to the life of the image that while controlled, they are also still sweeping and confident.

Moving from the back of the neck, over the cranium, down the face to the throat, I modeled the outline of the character I imagined light shining from above and in front and adjusted the pressure of lines to reflect this.

Generations

T o DRAW PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT AGES, a n d t h o s e w h o a r e

asleep (see overleaf), be aware of the subtle differences in skin surface, the texture of hair, muscular tension, and gravity. Above all, empathize.

Castings DRAWING IN THE PRADO MUSEUM,

Madrid, with a steel dip pen

and acrylic ink, I used the nib upside down to gain needle-sharp precision. Fast lines carve out the features of Goya's soup-slurping hag. Van Dyke's noble cast of characters was modeled more finely, seeking the dominant contours of each individual expression.

Costume W

E MAKE OURSELVES EXOTIC, outrageous, intriguing, and even invisible by the w a y w e dress. Like it or not, it is the public sign by w h i c h w e are j u d g e d , and everything

w e h a v e c h o s e n for o u r w a r d r o b e s — r e f l e c t o r s of o u r taste, personality, c u l t u r e , a n d p r o f e s s i o n — b e g a n life as a d r a w i n g . Designers all over the w o r l d c o n t i n u a l l y p e n and b r u s h lines to lash us w i t h color, w a r m t h , and e x u b e r a n c e , or calm u s w i t h chic, cool, a n d s u b t l e t o n e s . P o p u l a r f a s h i o n d e s i g n e x p l o d e d w i t h the I n d u s t r i a l R e v o l u t i o n . Previously, o n l y the w e a l t h y c o u l d afford to h a v e c o s t u m e s specially m a d e . T h e rural masses w o r e h o m e s p u n simplicity, while court p a i n t e r s — M i c h e l a n g e l o and Holbein, for e x a m p l e — d e s i g n e d the w a r d r o b e s of p o p e s a n d k i n g s , a n d c o u r t i e r tailors f o l l o w e d suit. Cities c h a n g e d all, so that c h o i c e , variety, and i n d e e d image b e c a m e the property also of the industrial classes. T h e p a p e r p a t t e r n is p e r h a p s the m o s t w i d e l y k n o w n of c o s t u m e d r a w i n g s : a formalized plan of lines, shapes, and s y m b o l s that lets m e n and w o m e n in all countries and areas have w o r k i n g access to the latest fashions. T h e e n t o u r a g e of the theatrical stage o f t e n l e a d s the c a t w a l k . D e s i g n e r s create m a s t e r p i e c e s of haute couture LEON

for

BAKST

H o l l y w o o d stars, fulfilling lavish and spectacular briefs, w h i c h in turn feed c o n s u m e r Lev. Samoylovich Rosenberg, known as Leon Bakst, was a Belarussian A r t Deco theater fantasies and desires to immediately possess a version of the same. W e dress ourselves and costume designer trained in designers' ideas and are surprised and delighted b y their continual f l o w of inspiration. in St. Petersburg and later exiled toParis,As artistic director of the It is s h o c k i n g to t h i n k h o w m a n y m i l l i o n s of d r a w i n g s m u s t be m a d e a n d d i s c a r d e d Ballet Russe, he and cofounder Serge Diaghilev took Paris by e a c h year in the industrial f r e n z y of creating o u r image and aspirations. storm in 1910 with their production of Scheherazade. Bakst's designs and costumes immediately To the fine artist, c o s t u m e o f f e r s a r i c h v o c a b u l a r y of t e x t u r e s a n d c o l o r , b u t influenced Parisian fashion and interiordecor,This voluptuous above all a physical p u p p e t w i t h w h i c h to animate character and narrate personality, woman was drawn by Bakst one year later for the ballet Narcisse. In psychology, and intent. Artists do this not so m u c h b y the style of a figure's garment, arichand unusual combination of pencil, charcoal, and gouache, theb u t b y the w a y it s p e a k s w i t h its flying, g l o s s y folds, caricatured p l u m e s , c r u m p l e s , dancer leaps through swaths of golden cloth. or b u l g e s . In this c h a p t e r w e see h o w c l o t h i n g c a n s e e m to p o s s e s s the w e i g h t and m o n u m e n t a l i t y of stone, articulate a d a n g e r o u s satirical j o k e , and be so expressive of temperament that it overtakes the need for an o c c u p y i n g h u m a n form. Practical classes Bacchante 1911

l o o k at r a n g e s of c o l o r e d m a t e r i a l s i n c l u d i n g p a s t e l s a n d felt-tip p e n s . S t r u c t u r e is

studied 111/4 x 81/2 in (285 x 220 mm) L E O NB A K S T

t h o u g h the i n v e n t i o n of shoes, a n d w e will c o l l e c t patterns, e m u l a t e textures,

and explore the characterization of fabric t h r o u g h m o v e m e n t , gesture, and atmosphere.

COSTUME

156

Cloth and Drapery EACH

OF THESE

FIGURES

is ninety percent cloth. Sculpted

one, and the kneeling abbot is a ghost by comparison.

folds and patterns of material speak more resolutely of their

Opposite, Keisai Eisen's intense, swirling printed fabrics, with

wearers than any small glimpses of body we can see.

their jagged edges, dragons, and snakelike marks, resonate

In Van Eyck's drawing below, the Madonna and her

with their wearers startled expression. Below this, Flaxmans

architecture are both dressed in the same manner; her

sleeper—perhaps a pilgrim or a soldier resting between

marble garment holds u p the infant Christ in a fountain of

campaigns—has wedged himself into the cleft of some great

compressed line. Above them, the vaulted stone roof echoes

building to grab a moment of peace. The quiet stillness of

and crowns the moment. Church and deities are drawn as

this image is achieved by a masterly economy of stylized line.

JAN VAN

EYCK

Flemish oil p a i n t e r f r o m L i m b o u r g , best k n o w n f o r his G h e n t altarpiece ( 1 4 3 2 ) a n d m a r r i a g e p o r t r a i t o f Giovanni A r n o l f i n i and his w i f e (1434). Van Eyck's highly polished w o r k is c e l e b r a t e d f o r its disguised symbolism. H e m e t i c u l o u s l y a r r a n g e d subjects t o c o n v e y d e e p e r meaning.

Delicate marks

Silver (or metal) point is the most delicate

of traditional drawing media (see pp.140-41). With a stylus such as Van Eyck used here, it is only possible to create very thin, delicate lines. He has layered these slowly and carefully so as not to cut through the ground and produce a white mark just where he intended a dark one.

Vertical lines The highly controlled lines of this drawing cascade from top to bottom of the image. Their uninterrupted emphasis

is entirely vertical. Short and subtle

horizontal

punctuations are only given in the background by sections of floor, bands around the columns, and implied striation in the stone of the architecture.

Marble gown We will never know if Van Eyck considered this drawing unfinished or intended the kneeling abbot to remain transient and ghostly. However, the carefully composed outline of his cloak shows us how the artist would have also begun his immaculate rendering of the Virgin's clothes. Her gown is carved and polished as if made from marble.

Maelbeke

Madonna

I44I 11 x 7 in (278 x 180 m m ) JAN V A N

EYCK

157

CLOTH AND DRAPERY

KEISAI EISEN Japanese draftsman, writer and printmaker Keisai Eisen took his name from the masters Kano Hakkeisai and Kikugawa Eizan. Respected for his sumptuous images of geisha and editions of erotic prints, he also co-edited and expanded the Ukiyo-e Ruiko (History of Prints of the Floating World), an 18th-19th century document on the lives of the ukiyo-e artists.

Relief printing This is a woodblock print made by a relief process. Images are drawn onto smooth, flat sheets of wood, which are sometimes also cut into pieces like a jigsaw puzzle. Parts of the image to be left unprinted are gouged out with a metal tool. Remaining raised areas of wood are rolled with colored inks. The inked block is laid face-down on damp paper and pressed to make the print. This complex

image

may have been made with numerous blocks prepared

and

printed separately, one over the other, each delivering a different part and color of the design.

The Courtesan

Koimurasaki of Tama-ya 1810-50 15 x101/4in (381 x 260 mm) KEISAI EISEN

JOHN F L A X M A N English late 18th-century neoclassical sculptor; designer, draftsman, and teacher Distinctive linear illustrations for the works of Homer, Dante, Aeschylus earned Flaxman an international reputation.

and

Position In this pen and ink drawing, the angle of the head, the cloak sliding to the ground, and the feet notched

against the pillar tell us that

this sleeper's position is momentary. A

stone wall of downward-stroked

lines holds him into the cleft.

Man Lying Down in a Cloak I 787-94 21/4 JOHN FLAXMAN

x 41/8 in (57 x 105

mm)

COSTUME

158

Character Costumes an extreme form of the clothed figure. A flamboyant territory, where sometimes there just might not be anybody inside. Details and voices are worn externally with great imagination. Fine examples can be plucked from fashion, cartoon, theater, cinema, and even formal portraiture. Anthony Van Dyke's Man in Armor is a masterpiece of drawn surface. The metal, cloth, lace, and feather were all CHARACTER COSTUMES REPRESENT

observed with closely crafted conviction. The slight uncertainty of the pose and the limp cloak suggest a little more metal than man. Opposite is a dangerous drawing, a scurrilous cartoon by a courtier of Queen Elizabeth I. The aged queen is compared to an overdressed bird, all ruffs and wrinkles. It is presumed Her Royal Highness never saw it, for she would not have been amused and William Wodall might have been stretching his luck. A N T H O N Y V A N DYKE Flemish painter and draftsman. A s a y o u n g man, Van D y k e was chief assistant t o Rubens f o r t w o years, b e f o r e traveling t o Italy, w h e r e , t h r o u g h n u m e r o u s p o r t r a i t and C h u r c h commissions, he c o o l e d and redefined his style. In 1 6 3 2 he m o v e d p e r m a n e n t l y t o L o n d o n , a n d w a s e m p l o y e d as c o u r t painter t o King Charles I.

Pen and wash

In the graphic accuracy of this armored

knight we see the idealized identity of a warrior from another time: a gleaming defender of the realm. He has been rendered on this olive